Braves Open Road Swing Saturday At Illinois State

Patricia Díaz Velázquez

Women's Basketball 1/24/2019 10:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball has won three of its last four games and is 2-0 on the road in Missouri Valley Conference play heading into a three-game league road swing which starts Saturday with a 4 p.m. game at I-74 rival Illinois State.

The Braves (13-4 overall, 3-3 MVC) head into the weekend tied with the Redbirds (10-7 overall, 3-3) for fifth in the MVC standings after pulling out a 58-53 overtime win over Southern Illinois Sunday at Renaissance Coliseum. Illinois State has alternated wins and losses over the first six Valley games with the Redbirds coming off a 59-47 home loss to Missouri State. ISU is 7-2 at home this season, with the losses against the two teams tied atop the Valley standings (Drake and Missouri St.).

Saturday's game will be available on ESPN+, while BradleyBraves.com will also provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM audio stream.

Bradley is 7-3 in the last 10 matchups with Illinois State and 8-3 in the last 11 regular-season contests with the Redbirds. Illinois State leads the all-time series in Normal, Ill., 18-13, but the Braves have won three of its last five games at Redbird Arena.

With a 13-4 overall mark, Bradley has already matched last year's win total and the Braves are looking for 14 wins in a season for the first time since finishing with a 14-16 record in 2012-13. Bradley has four previous starts of 13-4 or better to a season with the last coming in 2008-09 (13-4) with the other three starts prior to paying a full NCAA Division I schedule starting in 1982-83.

Bradley heads into the three-game Missouri Valley Conference road swing with a 5-1 road record this season. Only Drake (6-2) and Indiana State (6-5) have more road wins than the Braves in the MVC this season. Bradley has not won six road games in a season since 2012-13. 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.

Sophomore Gabi Haack continues to climb Bradley's all-time scoring list, topping 600 career points in Sunday's overtime victory against Southern Illinois. Currently 52nd in career scoring at Bradley with 611 points, Haack tied Carrie Coffman as the eighth fastest players in program history (48 games) to reach 600 career points and she is one of five underclassmen to reach 600 points in 48 games or fewer.

Bradley's leading scorer at 16.7 points per game to rank third in the MVC, Haack has scored in double figures in 15 consecutive games for the longest streak at Bradley since Sara Bailey had 16 outings with 10 or more points in 2000-01. She also has a streak of 11 consecutive games with a three-pointer, which is tied for the 10th longest streak in program history. Just the fifth player in program history to have 49 three-pointers and 75 or more made free throws in a season, Haack is one of four players in the nation in 2018-19 with that combination and the only one in the group to also have at least 90 rebounds.

Junior Chelsea Brackmann has collected double-doubles in three consecutive games and four of the last five outings. The first Bradley player to post three consecutive double-doubles since Leti Lerma wrapped up her career with three straight double-doubles in 2016-17, Brackmann has a league-high nine double-doubles on the year to tie the 10th-best season total in school history. She has averaged 15.7 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in Valley play, while shooting 57 percent from the field. Brackmann is 16 rebounds from becoming the 13th player in program history with 600 career points and 600 boards.

Bradley follows up Saturday's road outing at Illinois State with a game at Valparaiso (7 p.m.) on Friday, Feb. 1.

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