Women’s Basketball Hosts Illinois St. To Open Final Home Stand

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 2/20/2019 1:51:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After playing five of the last seven on the road, Bradley Women's Basketball opens the final home stand of the 2018-19 regular season when the Braves kick off a three-game home stand Friday with a 7 p.m. matchup against I-74 rival Illinois State at Renaissance Coliseum.

Bradley (17-7 overall, 7-6 MVC) will be trying to complete the regular-season sweep of Illinois State (15-9 overall, 8-5 MVC) after posting a 79-68 road win at Redbird Arena in late January in the season's first meeting. More importantly, however, the Braves enter Friday's game alone in the fifth in the league standings, one game behind the fourth-place Redbirds heading into the final three weekends of the regular season.

Friday will be Rock Your Red, with fans encouraged to wear their Bradley Red to the game, which will feature a special halftime selection of the Most Spirited Brave. Renaissance Coliseum concessions will also be offering $1 popcorn at Friday night's contest.

The outing against Illinois State will be available on ESPN3 and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM broadcast. Braves Club members are invited to a pre-game "Chalk Talk" 20 minutes prior to tip-off of each home game in the Braves Club Room.

The teams have split the regular-season series each of the last three years, but Bradley is 8-3 in the last 11 meetings with Illinois State and 9-3 in the last 12 regular-season matchups. Overall, the Redbirds hold a 53-32 edge in the all-time series. The Braves are 5-1 in the last six meeting at Renaissance Coliseum with Illinois State winning last year's game. Bradley is 18-22 in home games in the series. The last regular-season sweep in the series by either team was by the Braves during the 2014-15 campaign.

Tied for the most home victories in the MVC this season with nine, Bradley boasts its most home victories since 2009-10 (9-3) and is looking to win at least 10 home games in a season for just the third time in the last 35 years. The last time the Braves won 10 or more home contests was 2008-09 (12-2) and the only other season in which Bradley won at least 10 home games since joining the Gateway Conference for the 1983-84 season was 1986-87 (10-3). The Braves own a three-game home win streak and have won four consecutive home games against in-state opponents dating back to last season's home game against Illinois State. Bradley is 7-3 in February home games under head coach Andrea Gorski.

Bradley has averaged 6.3 three-pointers per game, which would rank as the third-best average in school history and best total by the Braves since averaging a school record 7.0 triples per outing in 1994-95. Sophomore Gabi Haack leads the MVC in three-pointers per game (2.6), while freshman Lasha Petree is tied for seventh at 1.9 per tilt. The duo are the first Bradley pair to each hit 45 or more three's in the same season since Michelle Nason (87) and Carolyn Hagerty (56) in 1994-95 and marks just the third time the Braves have two individuals with 45 or more makes from beyond the arc. Bradley is 11-2 on the year when shooting at least 33 percent from long range and 16-4 when making at least five three's.

Haack continues to climb Bradley's all-time scoring list, topping 700 career points Sunday at Missouri State. Currently 44th in career scoring at Bradley with 703 points, Haack is the seventh fastest player in Bradley history to reach the 700-point mark (55 games) and is just the fourth Bradley sophomore with 700 or more points. This season, Haack has averaged a team-best 15.7 points per game with her 376 total points the most by a Bradley player since Michelle Young had 429 points (14.3 ppg) in 2013-14. In fact, Haack has the highest season point total for a Bradley underclassman since Sara Bailey scored 521 points (19.3 ppg) as a sophomore in 2000-01.

The top scoring freshman in the Missouri Valley Conference at 13.1 points per game, Petree recently topped the 300-point mark to become just the seventh frosh in Bradley history with 300 points. Petree has 314 points on the year to join an exclusive group which includes Haack (327 points last year). The other five individuals to score 300 points as a freshman all rank among the top eight in career scoring at Bradley. Petree is just 14 points from the highest freshman point total since Heather Best in 1995-96 (340) and 45 points from second on the freshman scoring charts. With at least six games remaining, she is on pace to score over 390 points.

Junior Chelsea Brackmann has been solid in the post for the Braves, leading the MVC in rebounding at 10.9 rebounds per game and has 14 outings this season with at least 10 rebounds. In fact, she has snagged nine rebounds in 17 of 24 games and collected eight or more boards in all but five contests. Brackmann has 261 rebounds this season, which is tied for the seventh-best season total in Bradley history. Her 14 double-digit rebounding efforts are the most by a Brave since Leti Lerma had 18 in 2016-17 and tied for the fourth-best season total in school history. Brackmann has corralled 657 career rebounds in her near three years on The Hilltop and is 13 rebounds from ranking among the top 10 in career rebounds at Bradley.

The trio of Haack, Petree and Brackmann each have over 300 points scored this season. While the Braves last had three individuals top 300 points during the 2016-17 season, Bradley hasn't had a group of three players reach 300 points in the same season that didn't include a senior since 1981-82 campaign when BU led the nation in scoring at 87.9 points per game.

Bradley follows up Friday's game against Illinois State with a 7 p.m. home contest against Valparaiso next Thursday (Feb. 28) to continue the three-game home stand.

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