Women’s Basketball Travels To Western Illinois

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 11/19/2019 11:06:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball plays its third road game in four outings Wednesday when the Braves travel to Macomb, Ill., for a 5:30 p.m. contest against Western Illinois.

Fresh off a 101-39 victory against Eureka Saturday in the team's home opener, Bradley (2-1 overall) plays three of its first games of a season on the road for the first time since opening the 2014-15 season with five consecutive road contests. Western Illinois (3-2 overall) is 3-0 at home this season and will be playing the second of five games scheduled against Missouri Valley Conference squads this season.

BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to the Western Illinois video stream (Leathernecks All-Access) along with the links to live stats and the WIRL 1290 AM broadcast.

The Braves own a 28-14 lead in the all-time series with the Leathernecks after winning the last two meetings in Peoria. The series is knotted at 10-10 in games played in Macomb. WIU has won the last two meetings in Macomb and four of the last five games at Western Hall, however, with Bradley's lone win in that stretch coming in 2010-11.

Overall, Bradley is 31-15 against current Summit League members, which includes an 11-11 road record. The Braves have only faced three current Summit League members heading into the matchup with Western Illinois, which is one of two games this season against Summit League squads (North Dakota State - Dec. 5). Bradley split a home-and-home series with Denver during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons and swept a home-and-home series with Omaha over the last two years in addition to the series with WIU.

Wednesday's game will mark the fourth consecutive year Bradley and Western Illinois will square off and several returning Braves have had success against the Leathernecks. In fact, senior Chelsea Brackmann has collected double-doubles in each of the last two matchups with WIU and has scored 12 or more points in all three career outings against the Leathernecks. In her career, Brackmann has averaged 17.0 points per game on 55 percent shooting and pulled down 9.3 rebounds per game vs. WIU.

A Bradley freshman has scored 19 or more points in each of the last three games in the series with Western Illinois with Brackmann scoring 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the last game at Western Hall in 2016-17, junior Gabi Haack hitting 8-of-12 three-pointers in a 26-point performance at Renaissance Coliseum on Dec. 28, 2018 and sophomore Lasha Petree tossing in 19 points in last year's contest. Not to be outdone, junior Nyjah White helped highlight last year's meeting with the Leathernecks by tallying 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Bradley ranked ninth nationally in both free throw attempts and made last year and while the Braves aren't getting to the charity stripe as often early in 2019-20, BU has certainly made the best of the opportunities presented. Through games of Nov. 17, Bradley ranked 19th nationally in free throw percentage at 80.4. Last year, the Braves were 81st nationally in free throw percentage (73 percent) for the team's best performance at the free throw line since 2014-15 (73 percent).

Bradley is 2-1 or better to start a season for the third consecutive year and will by trying to make it three straight starts of 3-1 or better. While last year's squad was 4-0 through four games, the Braves have a chance to start a season with a 3-1 mark with two true road wins in that stretch for the first time since 2001-02 when Bradley kicked off a 9-0 start to the year with road wins at Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Maine before a neutral site victory against Green Bay.

Bradley has won seven consecutive games against in-state non-conference opponents and the Braves are 9-4 against non-conference teams from Illinois under fourth-year head coach Andrea Gorski after Saturday's win over Eureka. Overall, Bradley is 61-36 (.629) against non-conference squads from Illinois dating back to 1995-96.

The Braves follow up the midweek game at Western Illinois with a Saturday afternoon home contest against Miami (Ohio). Bradley tips things off against the Redhawks at 1 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum.

Print Friendly Version