Women’s Basketball Opens Valley Play At Home

Julie Kestas

Women's Basketball 1/3/2019 11:45:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- For the first time in three years, Bradley Women's Basketball will open Missouri Valley Conference play at home with the Braves hosting two-time defending league champion Drake in the conference opener Friday (7 p.m.) in addition to a Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.) contest against Northern Iowa at Renaissance Coliseum.

Bradley (10-1 overall) wrapped up the non-conference portion of the schedule with a convincing 89-59 victory over Chicago State last Friday as the Braves earned their school record 10th non-conference win of the year and own the best record in the MVC heading into conference play.

Drake (8-4 overall), which has won a Valley record 40 consecutive regular-season conference games heading into Friday's matchup, was the pre-season favorite to earn a third consecutive league title and posted the second-best non-conference mark in the MVC this season behind Bradley. The Bulldogs are ranked 10th in the latest NCAA RPI report and have played the 10th toughest schedule in the country to date.

Friday's game, which will be available on ESPN+, will be Health & Wellness Night in coordination with Bradley's Get Fit, Stay Fit program with fans invited to take part in a free Zumba class following the game.

Northern Iowa (7-5 overall), which made its fourth consecutive post-season appearance last year (WNIT), heads into a Friday night contest at Illinois State having already played six road contests and is 4-2 in its last six outings. The Braves will host a free post-game shootaround following the 2 p.m. game against the Panthers, with kids eighth grade and under invited to join the Braves on the court for the shootaround afterwards. Sunday's game will be streamed on ESPN3.

BradleyBraves.com will also provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM audio stream for both games. 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.

Bradley is 10-1 to open a season for the first time in school history and bring a six-game home win streak into conference play. The six-game home win streak is the team's longest since a nine-game home win streak at three different venues between the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

The Braves won the final two games played at Robertson Memorial Field House during the 2007-08 campaign along with the first six games played at Illinois Central College in 2008-09 along with an additional contest at Richwoods High School that same year, while Renaissance Coliseum was under construction. Bradley has not had a home win streak of six or more games on campus since winning the first eight home contests of 2001-02, which is the only season the Braves had a better non-conference record (9-0) than this year.

Friday's matchup with Drake marks the first time since 2014-15 Bradley will not face its league travel partner in the Valley opener and also marks the sixth time the Braves will play Drake in the first conference game of the year. The last time Bradley met the Bulldogs in its Valley opener was 2005-06.

Freshman Lasha Petree scored a game-high 19 points in last week's win against Chicago State, collecting 15 points in the first quarter and keyed a 23-5 first-quarter run with 13 points and a pair of steals. Petree, who is fifth in the MVC in scoring and seventh in the nation among freshmen in points per game, has six outings with 19 or more points. Five of her six 19-point scoring efforts have come at Renaissance Coliseum, where Petree has averaged 20.3 points per game in six outings. She has also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game at home this season, while shooting 38.6 percent (17-for-44) from three-point range.

Sophomore Gabi Haack hit her 100th career three-pointer and also scored the 500th point of her Bradley career during her 12-point effort against Chicago State on Dec. 28. Haack is closing in on Bradley's top 10 in career three-pointers, needing six more trey's to match Devyn Flanagan for 10th all-time on The Hilltop with 106 triples. Haack scored her 500th career point in her 42nd game as a Brave, tying her for the 10th fastest player in program history to hit the 500-point mark and just the eighth sophomore to reach the mark in 42 games or less. The last four-year player to score 500 points in 42 games or fewer at Bradley was Sara Bailey (39 games) during the 2000-01 season. Last year, Haack averaged 19.5 points per game in two meetings with Drake, knocking down 11-of-22 three-point attempts against the Bulldogs.

Bradley will follow up the weekend home games with its MVC road opener Friday, Jan. 11 at Evansville (6 p.m.).

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Players Mentioned

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

Women’s Basketball Opens Valley Play At Home

Players Mentioned

#3 Gabi Haack

#11 Lasha Petree

Players Mentioned

#3 Gabi Haack

#11 Lasha Petree