Women’s Basketball Set For Road Game At Indiana State

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 1/12/2019 9:08:00 AM

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Fresh off a victory in its Missouri Valley Conference road opener, Bradley Women's Basketball will look to keep things rolling when the Braves close out a two-game Valley road swing Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. (CST) game at Indiana State.

Bradley (11-3 overall, 1-2 MVC) has the third most road victories (4) in the MVC this season and is 4-1 in true contests to open a season for the first time since winning the first six road games of the 2011-12 campaign.

Sunday's game will be available on ESPN+ and BraadleyBraves.com will also provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM audio stream for the matchup at the Hulman Center.

Indiana State (8-6 overall, 2-1 MVC) is tied for third in the MVC standings after picking up a 59-44 home win over Illinois State Friday at the Hulman Center. The Sycamores have played a league-low four home games and have just two home contests over the last month.

Sophomore Gabi Haack has certainly enjoyed trips to the state of Indiana. After her 15-point performance against Evansville Friday, Haack is now averaging 16.6 points per game in her five career games in the Hoosier State. She is 12-for-33 (36.4 percent) from three-point range in those contests and has scored 12 or more in each of those outings. Haack has also averaged 6.0 rebounds per game in the state of Indiana.
Bradley's 11 victories on the year are just two from matching its season total from last year and the team's 11-3 mark is the best through 14 contests since 2008-09 (13-3).
The Braves are 4-1 in true road games, marking the team's best record in road contests to start a season since winning the first six road games of the 2011-12 campaign. Bradley is 6-4 in January road game during third-year head coach Andrea Gorski's tenure. Overall, the Braves have 13 road wins over the last three seasons, marking the most in a three-year stretch since 2011-12 through 2013-14 (17). In fact, seven of Bradley's 14 Valley wins under Gorski have been on the road and that total is just two short of matching the nine MVC road wins amassed by the Braves during the five seasons prior to Gorski's arrival.
In addition to leading the league in rebounding at 10.9 boards per game, junior Chelsea Brackmann is now shooting 53.7 percent from the field after a 7-for-10 performance against Evansville Friday. Brackmann, who is averaging 14.3 points per game over the last four contests, is shooting 65.7 percent (23-of-35) from the floor over the last four games.
Bradley made another change to its starting lineup Friday, with senior Shunseere Kent making her first start since an injury in late November as sophomore Nyjah White came off the bench for the first time this season. White, who had started 20 consecutive games dating back to last season, responded by scoring a game-high 18 points in 22 minutes off the bench. In the nine games this season she has played at least 20 minutes, White has averaged 13.6 points per game on 56 percent shooting, in addition to tallying 5.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Gabi Haack isn't the only Bradley player to enjoy trips to the state of Indiana. Junior Chelsea Brackmann has scored in double figures in six of her last eight games played in Hoosier State. In fact, in her last seven games in the state of Indiana, she has averaged 12.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 50.6 percent from the field after Friday's 15-point game at Evansville. Brackmann became the 51^st player in program history to score 600 career points during Friday's game at UE and is now 51 rebounds short of becoming just the 13^th player in program history with 600 career points and 600 career rebounds.
A 15-point effort by sophomore Gabi Haack Friday at Evansville was her 12^th consecutive game scoring in double figures. She is the first Brave to score in double figures in 12 straight contests since Sara Bailey had at least 10 points in the first eight games of 2000-01 and the first four outings of 2001-02. The last player to score in double figures in 12 consecutive games in the same season was Bailey, when she did so in 16 consecutive games in 2000-01.
With this weekend's games marking the halfway point of the regular season schedule, sophomore Gabi Haack has already put herself in rare company in Bradley history. Currently second in the MVC in made free throws (63-for-73) after making another eight free throws Friday at Evansville, Haack is the first Bradley player since Erika Nelson in 2006-07 to make at least 60 free throws and hit 39 or more three's in the same season. Nelson made 78 triples and 81 free throws during her senior season in 2006-07. In fact, Haack is just the eighth player in program history to make 39 or more three's in combination with 60+ free throws, joining a list which includes head coach Andrea Gorski (senior year of 1992-93). Haack is the first underclassmen at Bradley to reach those numbers in the same season, however, and she already has 11 more made free throws than the team leader last year.