Women’s Basketball Opens Season On The Road

Missouri Valley Conference

Women's Basketball 11/7/2019 11:09:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball kicks off a season with a two-game road swing for the first time since 2016-17 with the Braves heading to the state of Michigan to open the 2019-20 campaign with a Friday night game at Oakland along with a Sunday afternoon contest against nationally ranked (#24/25) Michigan.

Friday's 6 p.m. (CST) game at Oakland will be available on ESPN3, while Sunday's 1 p.m. (CST) contest at #24/25 Michigan can be viewed online via BTN+. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both contests along with links to listen to the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.

The weekend Michigan road swing will be a homecoming for five Braves who all came from the Detroit area in junior Emily Marsh (Superior Township), sophomore Lasha Petree (Detroit), freshman Mahri Petree (Detroit) and fourth-year Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski (Dearborn Heights) along with first-year assistant coach Latisha Luckett (Detroit). While Bradley will have at least one player from the state of Michigan for the third consecutive year, Marsh was Bradley's first player from the state of Michigan since Nikisha Carpenter (1996-99). Gorski was Bradley's first player from the state of Michigan during her freshman year (1988-89) on The Hilltop.

Bradley (20-10 overall in 2018-19), which is 4-4 all-time in the state of Michigan, topped Oakland (6-24 overall in 2018-19) 73-64 last December at Renaissance Coliseum in the only previous meeting between the squads. Lasha Petree torched the Golden Grizzlies for a season-high 29 points, while senior Chelsea Brackmann collected 17 points and 17 rebounds to highlight last year's win.

The Braves are 12-9 in their last 21 games against teams Horizon League foes heading into the Oakland game, which includes a 6-3 mark during Gorski's three years on The Hilltop. Overall, Bradley is 29-12 against current Horizon League members. The Braves will play a road game against a team from the Horizon League for the 10th consecutive year and are 4-1 in the last five road contests against Horizon League foes.

Bradley enters Sunday's game at #24/25 Michigan (22-12 overall in 2018-19) having won three of its last six games against teams from the Big Ten Conference and the Braves will be playing a team from the Big Ten for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons. Michigan is one of six Big Ten Conference teams Bradley has never faced along with Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Penn State and Rutgers.

Overall, Bradley is 26-18 (.591) in season-opening contests after an 85-79 win over Southeast Missouri State to open the 2018-19 season. The Braves are 5-9 when playing the season opener on the road with the last road win to start a season coming at Detroit to kick off the 2015-16 campaign. Bradley has opened 31 of 44 seasons in the state of Illinois with the Braves playing just two season openers outside the Land of Lincoln since 2003-04 (Saint Louis). Bradley is 2-2 in its last four season openers outside the state of Illinois, winning at Detroit (2015-16) and at Butler (2002-03) with the losses coming in 2003-04 at Saint Louis in addition to a season-opening loss at Kent State in 2016-17.

Owning a 5-3 record in the last eight road openers, Bradley is 19-25 all-time in the first true road game of the season. The Braves are 3-1 in their last four non-conference road games and 5-2 in the last seven non-conference contests away from home with the losses coming at Purdue (2018-19) and at then 21-st ranked Green Bay (2017-18).

Lasha Petree scored 23 points in Bradley's 74-62 exhibition victory against Illinois-Springfield, connecting on 10-of-16 shooting. Junior Gabi Haack scored all 13 of her points in the second half and fellow junior Nyjah White nearly had a triple-double (9 pts., 10 reb., & 9 assists) to highlight the exhibition win this past Sunday.

Bradley will have almost a week off from competition following Sunday's outing at Michigan with the Braves hosting Eureka in the 2019-20 home opener Saturday, Nov. 16 (1 p.m.) at Renaissance Coliseum.

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