Women’s Basketball Hosts North Dakota State Thursday

Josh Schwam

Women's Basketball 12/4/2019 10:27:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball returns to Renaissance Coliseum for a two-game home stand with the Braves owning a five-game win streak heading into a Thursday night home contest (7 p.m.) against first-time opponent North Dakota State.

Thursday's game will be Educator Appreciation Night with all area educators able to purchase up to two tickets at half price (with ID). Bradley Faculty & Staff will receive free admission (ID required). Halftime entertainment will be provided by the Bradley University Winter Guard.

Bradley (6-1 overall) has won five consecutive games after senior Chelsea Brackmann hit a buzzer-beating shot to give the Braves a 61-59 win over George Mason last Friday and BU came back from 13 down to top Richmond 61-57 Sunday to win the Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic in Conway, S.C., this past weekend. North Dakota State (1-7 overall) picked up its first win of the year Sunday at New Hampshire (67-61) and Bradley will mark the third MVC opponent for the Bison this season.

Thursday's game will be available on ESPN3 and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to the live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.

Bradley is 33-15 against current Summit League members, which includes a 19-3 home record. The Braves have only faced three current Summit League members heading into the matchup with first-time opponent North Dakota State. Bradley owns a five-game win streak against Summit League foes and has a 5-1 record vs. the Summit League under head coach Andrea Gorski.

Bradley enters the week ranked 17th in the RPI according to WarrenNolan.com through games of Dec. 1 and the Braves are one of four Missouri Valley Conference squads in the top 18. In fact, six Valley teams are in the top 88 of the RPI and eight MVC squads were in the top 120 through that same date. Bradley's strength of schedule was 49th nationally according to the NCAA through games of Dec. 1. Each of Bradley's seven opponents to date were .500 or better through Sunday with the group owning a 30-21 (.588) combined record.

Bradley has won a Renaissance Coliseum record eight consecutive home games after the 79-68 victory over Miami (Ohio) back on Nov. 23. The Braves have also won nine consecutive non-conference home contests following the win against the Redhawks. After a perfect non-conference home mark last year, Bradley is 12-1 in its last 13 non-conference home outings. Bradley's eight-game home win streak is the longest since a nine-game stretch between the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. The Braves are 14-3 at home since the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

Bradley went 2-0 at the Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic to improve to 6-1 on the year, marking just the fifth time in school history the Braves opened the season with a 6-1 record or better. The last two starts of 6-1 or better resulted in 20-win seasons and Bradley has finished with at least 19 wins three of the four previous times it has opened a season with at least a 6-1 mark with the lone exception in 2001-02 (9-0 start - 16-12 overall record). A win Thursday would give Bradley a start of 7-1 or better for just the fourth time.

Thursday's game against North Dakota State will mark the 100th game on the Bradley bench for fourth-year head coach Andrea Gorski. Currently owning a 51-48 overall record at her alma mater, Gorski has led the Braves to a 26-11 record since the start of the 2018-19 season. Of the five coaches in program history to sit on the Bradley bench for 100 or more games, Gorski is the fastest to 50 victories (98 games), surpassing Lisa Boyer's mark of 105 games set during Gorski's sophomore season of 1989-90.

Sophomore Lasha Petree has scored 14 or more points in all but one game this season and is the team's leading scorer at 14.9 points per contest. Petree scored her 500th career point in Sunday's win against Richmond, scoring 17 points in the second half to help Bradley rally from a 13-point deficit for the victory. Reaching the 500-point mark in her 37th career game, Petree is tied for the fifth fastest player in program history to score 500 career points and is third fastest sophomore to reach the mark. The last Bradley player to score their first 500 points as a Brave in fewer than 40 games was Hampton transfer Monica Rogers who did so in 37 games between the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. Only Judy Burns (28 games between 1981-82 & 82-83) and Connie Griffith (30 games - 1977-78 & 78-79) came to Bradley as freshmen and reached 500 career points quicker than Petree.

Junior Gabi Haack has scored in double figures in six of seven games this season and hit a pair of three-pointers to help Bradley rally for the win against Richmond Sunday. Haack, who is 16-for-42 (38.1 percent) from beyond the arc after an 0-for-10 start to the year, has moved into a tie for fourth in Bradley history with 153 career three-pointer to match the career total of Bradley Hall of Fame member Heather Best (1995-99). Shooting 40 percent (14-for-35) from three-point range over the last five games, Haack needs six three-pointers to pass Michelle Nason for third in Bradley history.

Bradley closes out the two-game home stand Tuesday, Dec. 10 with the team's annual Field Trip Day game. The Braves host Jackson State in a noon contest at Renaissance Coliseum.

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