Women’s Basketball Wraps Up Home Slate With Valpo & Loyola

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 2/27/2019 11:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball closes out a three-game home stand and concludes the regular-season home schedule with a pair of home games this week with the Braves hosting Valparaiso (Thursday) and Loyola (Saturday) at Renaissance Coliseum.

A 75-65 victory over I-74 rival Illinois State last Friday moved Bradley (18-7 overall, 8-6 MVC) into a tie with the Redbirds for fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference standings heading into the final two weekends of the regular season.

Prior to Thursday's 7 p.m. game against Valparaiso (6-21 overall, 2-13 MVC), Bradley Athletics will host Women In Sports Networking Night. The event is open to anyone interested in pursuing a career in sports and will begin at 5 p.m. in Renaissance Coliseum's Zobrist Room with registration and networking opportunities. The highlight of the event features a panel discussion of women working in professional sports or collegiate athletics, moderated by Bradley University Assistant Professor of Sports Communication Dr. Dunja Antunovic, starting at 6 p.m. For more information visit HERE.

Saturday's game against Loyola (12-14 overall, 6-9 MVC) will mark the final home contest for Bradley seniors Shunseere Kent and Vanessa Markert, who will be recognized prior to the 2 p.m. contest. The final home game of the 2018-19 season will feature a special $1 hot dog promotion along with a free Bounce House for kids provided by Fun on the Run. Bradley Residential Life will also sponsor a promotion with the Bradley University Residence Hall with the highest attendance at the game earning a free pizza party.

Thursday's game will be available on ESPN+ and the radio broadcast will be carried on WIRL 1290 AM. Saturday's matchup with Loyola will be streamed on ESPN3, while the radio broadcast will air on 95.9 FM The Sports Nut (959thesportsnut.com).

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.

Valparaiso won the season's first meeting, edging Bradley 76-73 back in early February. The Braves are 8-2 overall in the series, however, which includes a 4-0 mark at home. Bradley swept the regular-season series from the Crusaders last season and is 2-1 in the series since Valpo joined the MVC last year.

Bradley will be trying to complete a regular-sweep of Loyola after topping the Ramblers 69-56 back on Feb. 3. The Braves own a 24-16 lead in the all-time series, which includes a 12-5 home record. Bradley is 5-1 against Loyola over the last three years. The teams split the regular-season series last year, with the road squad winning each contest, but three of the last four seasons have resulted in a regular-season sweep. Bradley is 10-2 in the last 12 home games against the Ramblers and owns an 8-6 lead in the series since Loyola joined the MVC for the 2013-14 season.

Last week's win against Illinois State not only completed the regular-season sweep in women's basketball for Bradley, but gave the Braves a clean sweep of the men's and women's series with the Redbirds for the first time since 1986-87. Bradley Women's Basketball already boasts three regular-season sweeps this season to mark the first time the Braves swept three league foes since 2009-10 (4) with a chance for a fourth Saturday against Loyola.

Friday's win against Illinois State gave Bradley 18 victories and improved the Braves to 8-6 in league play. The last time Bradley won 18 games was 2011-12 as the Braves enter the final two home games of the season looking for its highest overall win total since closing the 2008-09 season with a 21-10 mark. In addition, Bradley has won eight Valley games for the first time since 2012-13 (8-10) and can win nine or more league contests for the first time since 2009-10 (12-6). The five-win improvement from last year is the largest one-year improvement for the Braves dating back to when BU followed up a 12-18 campaign in 2007-08 with a school season-record 21 wins in 2008-09.

Sophomore Gabi Haack's scoring has dropped off a bit, with the guard averaging just 8.8 points per game over the last four contests, but she dished out a career-high eight assists in last week's win against Illinois State and she is averaging 3.9 assists per outing over the last seven. In fact, her eight assists against Illinois State without a turnover was the first such outing by a Brave since Rachel Merriman at Indiana State on Jan. 10, 2008 and just the seventh on record at Bradley. Haack is the first BU player with 380 points and 60 or more assists in a season since Raisa Taylor in 2010-11. The last Bradley player to score 400 points and have 60 or more assists in a season was Heather Best in 1998-99.

Freshman Lasha Petree has paced Bradley in scoring three consecutive games and the four-time MVC Newcomer of the Week has been the top scorer for the Braves in a team-high nine contests this season. Petree has attempted 28 free throws over the last three games with her 14 attempts against Illinois State Friday the highest total by a Brave dating back to 20 free throw attempts by Michelle Young at Southern Illinois on Jan. 2, 2014. The top scorer among Valley freshman, Petree is averaging a team-best 14.6 points per game over the last nine games and her only outing with fewer than 13 points during that span was her only start (at Loyola). She is shooting 45.2 percent from three-point range over the last nine contests.

Junior Chelsea Brackmann turned in her 13th double-double of the year last Friday with her 15 rebounds pushing her season total to 276, which is the fifth-best season total in Bradley history. Her 15 double-digit rebounding efforts are the most by a Brave since Leti Lerma had 18 in 2016-17 and rank as the fourth-best season total in school history. Brackmann has corralled 672 career rebounds in her near three years on The Hilltop and is now ninth all-time in rebounding Bradley history. She is one of four players in the country with 320 or more points, 275 rebounds, 30 assists, 25 blocks and 40 or more steals.

The Braves hit the road after the weekend home stand for the final road swing of the 2018-19 regular season. Bradley kicks off the trip Thursday, March 7 at Northern Iowa.

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