Women’s Basketball Faces Western Illinois On Field Trip Day

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 12/3/2018 3:49:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- For the seventh consecutive year Bradley Women's Basketball will welcome area school children to Renaissance Coliseum for Field Trip Day presented by Prairie Farms, with the Braves hosting in-state foe Western Illinois Tuesday for an 11 a.m. contest.

A staple on the Bradley schedule, Field Trip Day has produced six of the top eight highest attended games in the eight-plus year history of Renaissance Coliseum. Approximately 1,900 area school children expected to attend the annual event will receive a workbook with puzzles, games and world problems which focus on leading a healthy lifestyle, nutrition, character building and dealing with bullying.

The matchup between Bradley and Western Illinois will be available on ESPN+ and BradleyBraves.com will also provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM audio stream. Braves Club members are invited to a pre-game "Chalk Talk" 20 minutes prior to tip-off of each home game in the Braves Club Room.

The only undefeated team in the Missouri Valley Conference, Bradley (6-0 overall) closes out a three-game home stand against Western Illinois (3-5 overall) and the Braves will be putting their longest streak since 2009-10 on the line Tuesday.

The Braves own a 26-14 lead in the all-time series with Western Illinois after posting an 87-80 home victory against the Leathernecks last year, which was highlighted by eight three-pointers and 26 points from sophomore Gabi Haack in her first career start.

Bradley is 15-3 at home in the series, but Western Illinois is 3-4 in the last seven trips to Peoria. The one-time conference foes will be meeting for the 17th time since concluding their Gateway Conference days in 1991-92. BU holds a slim 9-7 edge in the series since, which includes a 6-3 advantage at home.

The Braves are 20-11 in the last game before the finals break since 1987-88. During that stretch, the Braves have posted an 11-5 record in the last game before finals at home. In fact, Bradley is 11-5 when playing the final contest before finals against an in-state opponent and boasts a 17-7 record over that same stretch when playing the last game before finals in the state of Illinois.

Bradley has posted at least one non-conference win against an in-state foe in 31 of the last 32 years, including this season, and is 58-36 (.617) against non-conference squads from Illinois dating back to 1995-96. Since joining the Gateway Conference for the 1983-84 season the Braves are 41-19 (.683) at home against in-state non-conference opponents, which includes 34-15 (.694) mark since 1994-95. Bradley has won four consecutive non-conference outings against teams from Illinois.

Freshman Lasha Petree made her first career start Saturday against Oakland and responded by scoring a season-best 29 points. Petree, who ranks seventh in the nation among freshman in points per game (16.3 ppg), is fifth in the MVC in scoring after her outburst. Her 29 points were the most by a Bradley freshman since Heather Best had 31 points against Indiana State on Feb. 29, 1996.

Only three freshmen in program history have topped Petree's 29-point performance with Judy Burns (30 points vs. Piedmont on Dec. 2, 1981) and Connie Griffth (31 points at Monmouth on Feb. 7, 1978) joining Best in the group. Petree's 98 points through six games are the most for a Bradley freshman to that point in a season since Burns scored 137 points (22.8 ppg) through six contests in 1981-82.

Junior Chelsea Brackmann leads the MVC in rebounding at 10.3 boards per game after collecting 17 points & 17 rebounds Saturday against Oakland for her second double-double of the year. Brackmann has six career double-doubles with one of those coming against Tuesday's opponent Western Illinois last year (20 points & 12 rebounds). The effort wasn't her first game with 15 points & 15 rebounds, however, as Brackmann tallied career highs of 23 points & 19 rebounds at Indiana State during her freshman season. She has had 11 or more rebounds in three of the last four outings. Brackmann has scored 19 and 20 points in her two career games against Western Illinois, averaging 19.5 points on 61 percent shooting to go with 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks per game against hte Leathernecks.

Bradley will take a break for finals before opening a three-game road swing Friday, Dec. 14 at Nebraska-Omaha.

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