Eureka ECWB

101

Bradley BRAD 2-1

Eureka ECWB

Final

Nov. 16, 2019

101

Bradley BRAD

2-1

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Eureka ECWB	6	5	13	15	39
Bradley BRAD	25	19	24	33	101

Box Score

Josh Schwam

Braves Roll By Eureka 101-39

Box Score

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 11/16/2019 3:40:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley scored the first eight points of Saturday afternoon's home opener against Eureka and started the contest with a 17-2 run as the Braves cruised to a 101-39 victory over the Red Devils at Renaissance Coliseum.

Five Bradley (2-1 overall) players scored in double figures, paced by freshman Mahri Petree's season-best 16 points, while senior Amber Bozeman (15 points & 10 rebounds) and freshman Veronika Roberts (12 points & 10 rebounds) each added double-doubles. The trio, along with sophomore Aannah Interrante, who had a career-best 10 points, helped the Bradley bench combine for an impressive 72 points in the win.

The Braves shot 55 percent from the field and dominated the contest from the opening tip with junior Gabi Haack scoring eight of her 11 points in the first 4:15 of the game to help spark the 17-2 opening run for BU.

"The biggest thing was that we were able to move the ball," said Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski. "In our exhibition game, we played a little too much one-on-one after we got the big lead, but continued to look for each other this afternoon and came away with 32 assists on 41 baskets. It was also good to see us shoot the three ball well. That's good going into Wednesday's game at Western (Illinois) because they are pretty good zone team. We needed to kind of get our confidence back from the three-point line."

Bradley took advantage of a big size difference, outrebounding Eureka by 40 (63-23) for the largest rebounding margin in school history. The previous record was +34 on the boards against St. Ambrose (62-28) on Nov. 20, 1984.

The 62-point victory is the fifth-largest margin of victory in Bradley history and largest win dating back to a 104-38 victory against St. Xavier on Dec. 14, 1981.

The Braves held a commanding 44-11 halftime lead, with Eureka's 11 points marking the fewest points in a half on record by a Bradley opponent. After going 4-of-13 from three-point range in the first half, BU was 10-for-20 from beyond the arc in the second half and tied for the second most three-pointers (14) in a game in program history. The only outing in which the Braves made more than 14 three's was at Evansville (Jan. 21, 2018) when Bradley connected on 17 triples.

Freshman Violeta Verano dished out a game-high 10 assists off the bench to go with her five points. Verano was the first Brave to have 10 assists in a game since Skye Johnson collected 13 assists against Drake on Feb. 21, 2009. Nine of her 10 assists came in the second half of play as she helped Bradley outscore Eureka 58-28 over the final 20 minutes.

Petree did not take a shot in the first half and had one rebound and one assist at the break. She was 6-of-11 from the field in the second half, including 4-for-8 from three-point range, however and tallied 16 points, three rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal in 15 second-half minutes.

Bozeman scored 13 of her career-high 15 points in the second half and hauled down eight of her career-best 10 rebounds after halftime.

The win pushed Bradley's home win streak to seven (longest in Renaissance Coliseum history) and the Braves are now 17-2 when facing an in-state opponent in the home opener.

Bradley travels to Macomb, Ill., for a 5:30 p.m. game at in-state foe Western Illinois Wednesday.

Print Friendly Version