Women’s Basketball Set For Sunday Matchup With #24/25 Michigan

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 11/9/2019 8:06:00 AM

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Fresh off a 74-58 road win at Oakland to open the 2019-20 season, Bradley Women's Basketball will face its first ranked non-conference opponent in almost two years when the Braves square off with #24/25 Michigan Sunday.

Bradley (1-0 overall) and Michigan (1-0 overall) will tip things off at 1 p.m. (CST) Sunday at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., with the Braves wrapping up a two-game road swing to the Great Lakes State.

Sunday's game can be viewed on BTN+ and BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats for the game in addition to the WIRL 1290 AM broadcast.

Michigan, which reached the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament, is Bradley's first ranked non-conference opponent since a game at Green Bay on Dec. 16, 2017. The Wolverines opened the season Friday with a 76-55 home win against in-state foe Western Michigan.

Bradley will be trying to start a season off with back-to-back wins for the third consecutive year.
The Braves are 5-4 all-time in the state of Michigan, with Bradley winning five of its last six games played in the state.
Friday's 74-58 win at Oakland was Bradley's first road win to open a season since 2015-16 (at Detroit) and was the largest margin of victory for the Braves in a season opener dating back to an 87-60 win over Stony Brook to start the 2004-05 campaign. In fact, the 16-point win was the largest in school history in a road season opener, surpassing the previous mark of eight at Detroit (75-67) on Nov. 13, 2015.
The Braves will be shooting to open a season with back-to-back road wins for just the second time in program history. The 2001-02 squad opened the season with three consecutive road wins.
Sophomore Lasha Petree collected the seventh 20-point game of her career Friday at Oakland, scoring a game-high 20 points to pace four Bradley players in double figures. Petree averaged 10.1 points per game in road contests last year compared to 16.0 points per game in home contests. In fact, she had just three outings on the road in 2018-19 in which she scored more than her season average of 13.2 points per game.
Senior Chelsea Brackmann collected 11 points and eight rebounds in Friday's victory at Oakland, moving up one spot on Bradley's career rebounding list. Brackmann passed Karin Nicholls (726) for sixth on BU's career rebounding chart and now has 731 career boards. She enters Sunday's game poised to potentially move up two more spots, needing nine rebounds to pass Eileen Yerkes (739) for fifth and 10 to overtake Carrie Coffman (740) for fourth all-time at Bradley. In addition, Brackmann tied former teammate Vanessa Markert for 31^st on Bradley's career scoring list at 823 career points.
Junior Gabi Haack scored 12 of her 13 points in the second half of Friday's win at Oakland, reaching double figures in scoring for the 43^rd time in her career. Haack, who averaged 16.0 points per game in road contests last year, has scored 10 or more points in 13 of the last 14 road games after topping the 10-point mark in 12 of 13 road games last year.
Bradley is looking for its first win against a nationally ranked team. Eight of BU's last nine contests against nationally ranked teams have been played on the road with the lone home game during the stretch against #17/24 Oklahoma on Nov. 22, 2015.
The Missouri Valley Conference is off to a 10-1 start to the season through Friday's games with Valley teams playing a pair of Big Ten Conference foes Sunday (Bradley at Michigan & Valparaiso vs. Ohio State). The MVC already has one win at a Big Ten opponent with Missouri State topping #23 Minnesota 77-69 Tuesday in Minneapolis. Bradley, which is 3-3 in its last six games against teams from the Big Ten, will be looking for its first road win against a Big Ten squad since a victory at Illinois in 2012-13.
Bradley is 12-1 in its last 13 non-conference games with the lone setback during the stretch at Purdue last year to snap a school record nine-game win streak.