PEORIA, Ill. -- Sophomore Tatum Koenig scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added five assists and six rebounds to help Bradley Women's Basketball to a 78-69 victory over Jackson State Tuesday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum in BU's annual Field Trip Day presented by Prairie Farms.
Bradley stretched its win streak to seven games and has won 10 consecutive home contests dating back to last January for the longest home win streak since a 10-game home win streak between the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons. The Field Trip Day event drew the largest crowd (3,151) for a Bradley Women's Basketball home game (excluding doubleheaders with the men's team) to break the previous stand-alone record crowd of 3,128 set on Jan. 6, 2002 (vs. Illinois State) and is the third largest crowd in program history (including doubleheaders).
The Braves (8-1 overall) never trailed in the contest, scoring the first six points of the game to force a quick Jackson State (1-7 overall) timeout. Bradley shot 63 percent in the first quarter and held a 24-16 lead after the opening period, thanks in part to six five-quarter points from junior Emily Marsh, who finished with a season-best 11 points.
Koenig opened the second quarter with a three-point play and later keyed an 8-0 Bradley run with a pair of assists and two free throws as the BU lead ballooned to 41-25 with 2:44 left in the second. She found senior Ryan Wilkins for a three-pointer and followed up a pair of free throws by assisting a Gabi Haack three-pointer during the spurt. Jackson State managed to close the first half with a 9-0 run, however, to trim the BU advantage to 41-34 at the break.
Bradley's lead was one (47-46) midway through the third when freshman Mahri Petree had a put-back basket to push the edge back to three and Koenig had back-to-back driving layups after defensive stops as the Braves lead was back to seven (53-46) nearing the three-minute mark of the third. With Bradley's lead once again down to one (56-55), Koenig assisted another Hack three-pointer in the closing seconds of the period to push the Bradley lead to 59-55.
Jackson State scored the first basket of the fourth, only to have Bradley answer with a 9-1 run. Sophomore Lasha Petree started the spurt with a pull-up jumper in the lane and then assisted a Haack three-pointer. After Jackson State split a pair of free throws, Koenig had a layup and a pair of Marsh free throws with 6:09 on the clock gave Bradley a 68-58 lead.
Lasha Petree answered a Jackson State three-pointer which trimmed the BU lead to six with one of her own and Koenig later chased another three-pointer from the Tigers with a pair of free throws with 1:44 left to keep the lead at eight (75-67). Bradley made three of four free throw attempts in the final 33 seconds of the contest to seal the 78-69 victory.
Koenig scored 15 of her team and career-high 23 points in the second half to pace four Bradley players in double figures. Haack added a double-double (18 points & 11 rebounds) as she passed Leti Lerma on the BU career scoring list for 24th in school history. Knocking down four three-pointers, Haack also moved into sole possession of third in Bradley history in career three-pointers (162). After playing just five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Lasha Petree finished with 14 points, while Marsh scored nine of her season-high 11 points in the first half.
Bradley committed a season-low eight turnovers and had a 43-41 rebounding advantage in the win as the Braves are 8-1 or better to start a season for just the third time. Both the 2018-19 and 2001-02 squads had 9-0 starts.
Jackson State had 53 bench points, with Marneisha Hamer scoring a game-high 25 points off the bench and was one of three Tiger reserves to score in double figures.
Bradley will take a break for finals before closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule at the Roo Holiday Classic in Kansas City, Mo., where the Braves will face Liberty (Dec. 20) and Eastern Washington (Dec. 21).