PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball owns a three-game Missouri Valley Conference win streak and the Braves have won five of their last six games heading into a big weekend road swing which features contests at Southern Illinois (Friday) and at league-leading Missouri State (Sunday).
Currently fourth in the MVC regular-season standings with a 7-4 record, Bradley (17-5 overall) is one game behind Northern Iowa in the league standings prior to Friday's 6 p.m. game at Southern Illinois (10-11 overall, 3-7 MVC) and the Braves are 4-1 in conference road games.
Bradley will be trying to sweep the regular-season series from Southern Illinois after edging the Salukis 58-53 in overtime in the season's first meeting in Peoria back on Jan. 20. SIU has won the last five meetings at SIU Arena, but the Braves are 6-5 in the last 11 road games in the series and 11-7 at SIU Arena over the last 18 seasons. Southern Illinois has lost three consecutive games heading into the Friday night tilt, but is 3-2 in home conference games and 8-2 overall on the year at home.
Missouri State (14-7 overall, 10-0 MVC) has won 13 consecutive games heading into a Friday night home game against Illinois State. The Bears won the season's first matchup with the Braves 68-56 back in mid-January and have won four consecutive games in the series. Bradley is 4-6 in its last 10 trips to Springfield, Mo., prior to Sunday's 2 p.m. game at JQH Arena, which includes a 75-73 overtime win during the 2017-18 season. Missouri State is 7-2 at home heading into the weekend with the two home losses coming to teams with a combined 44-5 record in #13 Gonzaga and #25 South Dakota.
Both weekend road games will be available on ESPN+, while BradleyBraves.com will provide links to the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast along with live stats.
Bradley nailed a season-high 11 three-pointers in Sunday's victory against Evansville, despite sophomore Gabi Haack who leads the MVC in three-pointers per game not connecting on a shot from beyond the arc. The Braves have shot 40 percent or better from long range in four of the last five games and five of the last eight contests. In the first 14 games of the season, Bradley had just one three-point shooting performance of 40 percent or better (vs. Rockhurst on Nov. 18). Over the last five games, Bradley has averaged 7.8 three-pointers per game while shooting 41.9 percent from beyond the arc compared to 5.9 three-point makes per game on 29.6 percent shooting in the first 17 games.
The Braves have already surpassed their MVC win total from last year (6) and need one victory for their highest league win total since 2012-13 (8-10). Bradley is 7-4 to open conference play for the first time since 2009-10 (8-4). The Braves have made a habit of being better in the second half of league play over the years with seven of the last eight seasons resulting in a better second half for Bradley. In fact, Bradley has been better the second time through the Valley in 13 of 16 seasons. Head coach Andrea Gorski has been involved in three of seven conference starts of 7-4 or better in program history, with two coming when she played for the Braves in 1989-90 (11-4) and 1990-91 (8-4).
Bradley currently has three players averaging 12.9 points per game or more, with Haack pacing the group at 16.2 points per contest. The only team in the MVC to have three players scoring at least 11.5 points per outing, Bradley has not had three individual score at least 12.0 points per game in the same season since 1994-95. Haack already has the most points by a Bradley player (356) since Michelle Young averaged 14.3 points per game as a junior in 2013-14.
Bradley's reserves combined for 47 points in Sunday against Evansville, marking the third time this season the BU bench scored at least 40 points in a game. This season the Braves have averaged 24.8 points per game from its reserves. In fact, a player has come off the bench to score in double figures in 13 of 22 outings and a total of 16 times this season.
A reserve has scored 10 or more points in five of the last six contests with Bradley's bench combining to average 27.3 points per game during that stretch. Freshman Lasha Petree has averaged 14.9 points per game (21.7 minutes) and is shooting 43.8 percent (21-for-48) from three-point range in the 10 games she has come off the bench vs. 11.2 points per game (26.6 minutes) and shooting 31.4 percent (22-for-70) from three in her 12 starts.
Bradley is 4-1 in MVC road games after posting a 69-56 win at Loyola (Feb. 3). The Braves have four league road wins for the second consecutive season and own a 10-13 conference road record under third-year head coach Andrea Gorski. Bradley won 11 Valley road games between the five-year stretch from 2011-12 to 2015-16. The last time the Braves won more than four conference road games was 1991-92 (6-3). This year's seven road wins overall are the most for Bradley since 2011-12 (8-7).
The Braves follow up the weekend road swing with the final home stand on the 2018-19 schedule. Bradley opens a three-game home stand Friday, Feb. 22 with a 7 p.m. game against I-74 rival Illinois State.
