PEORIA, Ill. -- After picking up a pair of road wins last weekend to even its Missouri Valley Conference record at 2-2, Bradley Women's Basketball returns to Renaissance Coliseum for a pair of games this weekend with the Braves hosting Missouri State Friday in addition to a Sunday afternoon matchup with Southern Illinois.
Bradley (12-3 overall, 2-2 MVC) improved to 5-1 in road games on the year with a 75-68 win at Evansville last Friday along with a 61-45 victory at Indiana State Sunday to snap a 21-game road losing streak in the series with the Sycamores. The Braves are tied for fourth in the Valley standings at 2-2 heading into Friday's 7 p.m. game against Missouri State (7-7 overall, 3-0 MVC), which was won six consecutive games after a 1-7 start to the season.
Southern Illinois (8-6 overall, 1-2 MVC) is 5-2 over the last seven games, entering a Friday night matchup at Illinois State, but the Salukis have dropped their last two contests. Sunday's 2 p.m. game against SIU will be Alumni Day with Bradley Women's Basketball alumni in attendance recognized during the game.
The Friday night outing against Missouri State will be available on ESPN3, while Sunday's game vs. Southern Illinois can be viewed on ESPN+. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM broadcast of both contests. 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.
Last weekend's road trip marked the halfway point of the 2018-19 regular season and the Braves enter the second half of the regular-season schedule just one win (12) short of matching last year's overall win total (13). In fact, the Braves have 12 wins before the end of January for the fifth time in program history. Bradley's 12-3 start to the year is the third in school history with the two previous starts of 13-3 (2008-09 & 1979-80) resulting in the only 20-win seasons in Bradley history.
BU has played a league-high eight home games (6-2) and Bradley's six home victories match last year's home win total in addition to ranking second in the MVC this year.
Bradley is 2-2 or better to start league play for the second consecutive year. Prior to last year's 3-0 opening to Valley play, the Braves hadn't started conference action 2-2 or better since 2009-10 (6-2). Third-year Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski has eight MVC road wins through her first 20 league road games. The Braves had a total of eight MVC road victories in the four years combined prior to Gorski returning to her alma mater for the 2016-17 campaign.
In fact, Gorski is the only coach in program history to win at least 12 games each of their first three seasons on the Bradley bench and the 37 wins over the last two-plus seasons rank as the third most wins by a third-year coach on The Hilltop behind only Jan Winkler (44 wins – 1977-80) and Paula Buscher (39 wins – 2000-03).
Sunday's win at Indiana State was highlighted by arguably the best defensive effort of the year by Bradley. After Indiana State hit 3-of-5 shots (all three's) to start the game, the Braves held the Sycamores to 10-for-53 (18.9 percent) shooting over the final 37 minutes of the contest. Overall, the 22.4 percent shooting by Indiana State tied for the fourth-lowest opponent field goal percentage for a BU opponent and marked the lowest opponent field goal percentage against the Braves in a road game. The previous low field goal percentage by a Bradley opponent in a road contest was 22.7 percent at Creighton on Jan. 22, 2010. The Braves have held 10 opponents under 40 percent shooting and are 9-1 in those contests, with UNI (overtime) the only loss in those games.
Junior Chelsea Brackmann owns a league-high seven double-doubles after collecting 21 points and 10 rebounds Sunday at Indiana State. Brackmann has averaged 19.3 points per game on 68.4 percent shooting and has also pulled down 13.0 rebounds per game over the last three games. In Valley play, she is shooting 65.2 percent from the field and has collected 17.3 points and 12.0 boards per outing. She has 10 double-digit scoring efforts on the year and grabbed 10 or more rebounds in eight contests. Brackmann is currently 41 rebounds from becoming the 13th player in Bradley history with 600 career points and 600 rebounds.
Sophomore Gabi Haack has continued her consistent play and has now scored in double figures in 13 consecutive games. Haack, who is fourth in the MVC in scoring at 16.5 points per game, has increased her scoring average to 17.8 points per outing in league play. She has scored at least 10 points in 14 of her last 17 home games dating back to her first career start vs. Western Illinois on Dec. 28, 2017. The streak of 13 consecutive games with 10 or more points is the longest by a Bradley player since Sara Bailey had a streak of 16 consecutive games in double figures during her sophomore season of 2000-01. In 36 career starts Haack has had at least 10 points 28 times. She is currently 55th in career scoring at Bradley with 575 points and needs 25 points to become just the 11th player in school history to reach 600 career points in 50 games or less (46 games).
The Braves follow up the weekend home stand with a three-game road swing, which starts Saturday, Jan. 26 at I-74 rival Illinois State (4 p.m.).
