Women’s Basketball Faces Rockhurst Sunday

Duane Zehr, Bradley University ITPS

Women's Basketball 11/16/2018 11:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After a week off following an 85-79 season-opening victory over Southeast Missouri State, Bradley Women's Basketball returns to action Sunday afternoon with the Braves hosting NCAA Division II opponent Rockhurst in a 2 p.m. game at Renaissance Coliseum.

Sunday's game will be available on ESPN3 in addition to the radio broadcast on WIRL 1290 AM. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the video and audio streams. Children (8^th grade and under) in attendance Sunday can join the Braves for a post-game shoot around on the court.

Bradley (1-0 overall) used a late 9-2 run, which featured six points from freshman Lasha Petree to pull out the six-point win over Southeast Missouri State last Saturday to kick off the 2018-19 season.

The Braves will try to make it back-to-back 2-0 starts to seasons in Sunday's contest against Rockhurst, which is 2-0 on the year heading into a Friday night home game against Washburn. The Braves have not had consecutive 2-0 starts to seasons since the 2004-05 (3-0) and 2005-06 (2-0) campaigns. The 2005-06 season featured back-to-back home wins before a trip to the Miami area for the Miami Thanksgiving Classic in Coral Gables, Fla.

Bradley and Rockhurst will be facing each other for the first time and the Hawks are one of four first-time opponents on the 2018-19 slate for the Braves. Bradley owns a 15-4 regular-season record against current Great Lakes Valley Conference members with the game against Rockhurst marking the first time the Braves will play a regular-season contest against a current GLVC team since Lewis visited Carver Arena during the 1984-85 season. The last time Bradley faced a GLVC squad in an exhibition contest was prior to the 2016-17 season, with the Braves posting a 62-45 win over UMSL.

Sunday's game against Rockhurst marks the fourth consecutive year Bradley will play a non-Division I team during the regular season after facing Lincoln (Mo.) last year and Eureka during the 2016-17 and 2015-16 campaigns. Since facing U.S. International University on Dec. 5, 1987 at the Diamond Classic in Gary, Ind., Bradley has played just three contests against non-Division I opponents with those all coming in the past three seasons.

Petree, who was named MVC Newcomer of the Week Monday, made a big impression in her debut, with the 6-0 guard scoring a team-high 24 points off the bench to help Bradley to an 85-79 victory over Southeast Missouri State. The 13th Bradley freshman to score in double figures in their BU debut, Petree scored the most points by a Bradley frosh in their debut. She is just the third freshman in program history to top 20 points in their first outing and she broke the school record of 23 points in a freshman debut set by Bradley Hall of Fame member Judy Burns on Nov. 20, 1981 against SIU Edwardsville.

Sophomore Nyjah White added a career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and fellow sophomore Gabi Haack added 19 points of her own against SEMO. The last time Bradley had three individuals score at least 19 points in the same contest was a 93-82 victory at Western Illinois on Dec. 4, 1998. Bradley's underclassmen combined for 66 of 85 points on 23-of-39 shooting (59.0 percent) against Southeast Missouri State.

Nine different Braves went to the charity stripe in the season opener against Southeast Missouri State, with Bradley going 24-for-34 from the line in the victory. Bradley last made at least 24 free throws in a game on Feb. 17, 2017 vs. Missouri State and BU's 34 free throw attempts were its most against a NCAA Division I foe since attempting 36 free throws against Loyola on March 12, 2015. Bradley's 85 points were the most in a season opener since a 98-92 win over Illinois to kick off the 2013-14 season.

Bradley will follow up Sunday's game with a trip to Boca Raton, Fla., for the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament, Nov. 23 & 24. The Braves face Delaware in the opening round in a 1:30 p.m. (CST) game on Friday, Nov. 23.

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Players Mentioned

#3 Gabi Haack: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#45 Nyjah White: F; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#11 Lasha Petree: G; 6' 0"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#3 Gabi Haack
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#45 Nyjah White
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: F

#11 Lasha Petree
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: G

Women’s Basketball Faces Rockhurst Sunday

Players Mentioned

#3 Gabi Haack

#45 Nyjah White

#11 Lasha Petree

Players Mentioned

#3 Gabi Haack

#45 Nyjah White

#11 Lasha Petree