Women’s Basketball Hosts Sunday Exhibition vs. UIS

Missouri Valley Conference

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

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball has its final tune-up before next week's 2019-20 regular-season opener when the Braves host Great Lakes Valley Conference member Illinois-Springfield Sunday in a 2 p.m. exhibition contest at Renaissance Coliseum.

Fourth-year Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski has guided the Braves to an improved record in each of her first three seasons at her alma mater and for the first time in program history BU has had an improved mark in four consecutive years. The 2019-20 roster features the top four scorers and rebounders from last year's squad which was the first 20-win Bradley team in nearly a decade.

While no video streaming or radio broadcast will be available for Sunday's exhibition game, BradleyBraves.com will provide live stats for the contest.

Sunday's exhibition game marks the second all-time meeting between Bradley and Illinois-Springfield. The only other matchup between the squads was an exhibition game prior to the 2013-14 season with the Braves posting a 74-50 victory on Nov. 1, 2013. Bradley is a perfect 6-0 in exhibition games against current Great Lakes Valley Conference members after a 91-62 exhibition win over Quincy last year.

Bradley has won 27 consecutive exhibition games dating back to the team's trip to Western Europe in August 2004, including this summer's 3-0 mark on the squad's exhibition trip to Portugal in August. The Braves are a perfect 23-0 against collegiate teams in exhibition play following last year's victory over Quincy.

Junior Nyjah White helped highlight Bradley's annual Red-White scrimmage back on Oct. 15, scoring a game-high 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go with four rebounds, three assists and one block in the 16-minute public scrimmage held at Renaissance Coliseum. White was fourth on the team in scoring last year at 7.4 points per game and third in rebounding (4.3 rpg), while helping the Braves to a 13-3 record when she played at least 20 minutes.

One of two returning First-Team All-MVC performers for Bradley, junior Gabi Haack was the team's top scorer in 2018-19. Haack, who was sixth in the MVC in scoring (14.9 ppg), was just the eighth player in program history to lead the team in both scoring and assists in the same season. She is currently seventh in Bradley history with 137 made three-pointers, needing 11 triples to tie Gorski for sixth in school history and is 75 from breaking the school record.

Senior forward Chelsea Brackmann led the MVC in rebounding last year, pulling down 10.9 boards per game to rank 21st in the nation. She also averaged 12.6 points per game and collected 16 double-doubles during a junior season in which she broke the Bradley season rebounding record. Brackmann's 723 career rounds is seventh all-time at Bradley, with the senior 122 boards short of topping Leti Lerma's school record of 844 career rebounds.

The 2018-19 MVC Freshman & Sixth Player of the Year, Lasha Petree helps highlight the group of nine returning letterwinners from last year. Petree was 10th in the MVC in scoring and was the highest scoring freshman in the MVC since 2015-16, ranking 10th in the league in scoring at 13.2 points per outing. Lasha's younger sister Mahri is one of three freshmen added to a roster which features nearly 80 percent of its scoring returning from a squad which was third in the league in points per game.

Bradley was the first MVC team to have three individuals average at least 12.5 points per contest since the 2015-16 Drake squad and for the first time in school history the Braves return three individuals which averaged 12.5 points per game the previous year.

For season ticket information contact the Bradley Athletics Ticket office at (309) 677-2625 or email BradleyTicketOffice@bradley.edu

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