Women’s Basketball Hosts Loyola Saturday For Senior Day

Women's Basketball 3/1/2019 1:15:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball completes the regular-season home schedule in search of win number 20 on the year when the Braves host Loyola Saturday in a 2 p.m. contest at Renaissance Coliseum.

Seniors Shunseere Kent and Vanessa Markert will be recognized prior to Saturday's game, which marks the final home outing for both. 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.

An 87-76 home win over Valparaiso Thursday night kept Bradley (19-7 overall, 9-6 MVC) tied with Illinois State for fourth in the regular-season Missouri Valley Conference standings. The Braves are one-and-a-half games behind third-place Northern Iowa, which plays Friday night at league co-leader Missouri State.

Saturday's matchup with Loyola (12-15 overall, 6-10 MVC) 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 in the Braves Club Room. In addition, Braves Club members are invited to a free post-game reception.

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.

• Bradley is 6-3 on Senior Day over the last nine seasons and Saturday's game will be the sixth consecutive year the Braves will play their final regular-season home game of the season against a team from the state of Illinois. This season, Bradley owns a 5-0 home record and 7-1 overall record against in-state foes. The only four-year letterwinner on the roster, Markert heads into the final home game of her career 32nd in career scoring at Bradley with 806 points and is seventh all-time at BU with 99 career blocks. Kent is fifth on the team in scoring this year at 5.5 points per game, but has scored in double figures in four of the last six and averaged 8.5 points per outing during that stretch.

• Owning a 19-7 overall record with at least four games to play, Bradley is in search of its first 20-win season since winning a school record 21 games in 2008-09 (21-10). In fact, the Braves have a total of two 20-win campaigns on record with the other in 1979-80 (20-9). This year's 19 wins marks the fifth time in program history Bradley has posted at least 19 victories.

• Sitting at 9-6 in MVC play, Bradley has already locked up its best conference record since the Braves tied for third in the Valley standings with a 12-6 mark in 2009-10. Bradley will finish in the top six of the league standings for the first time since 2012-13 (6th) and could earn its first top-half conference showing dating back to that 2009-10 campaign. With a 5-3 home record in conference play, Bradley has a chance to win six home league games for the first time since 2009-10 (8-1).

• Thursday's 87-76 victory over Valparaiso was Bradley's fifth consecutive home victory and the Braves are now 11-3 at Renaissance Coliseum this season. The 11 home wins lead the MVC and rank as Bradley's most home victories in a season since posting a school season-record 12-2 home mark in 2008-09. The only other season Bradley won at least 11 home games was 1981-82 (12-4). The Braves won the first six home games of the 2018-19 season to mark the longest home win streak since a nine-game stretch in 2007-08.

• Bradley has now collected 44 victories during the near three-year tenure of head coach Andrea Gorski to mark the most victories over a three-year span for the Braves since collecting 47 wins between the 2010-11 and 2012-13 campaigns. In addition, the 44 wins match the most victories for a third-year head coach at Bradley. Jan Winkler helped guide Bradley to 44-23 record during the first three years of her four-year tenure on The Hilltop between the 1977-78 and 1979-80 seasons.

• Junior Chelsea Brackmann scored a career-high 25 points and also had 13 rebounds to lead four Bradley players in double figures in Thursday's win against Valparaiso. Brackmann was one of three Braves with at least 20 points, with Gabi Haack adding 22 points and freshman Lasha Petree chipping in with 21 points off the bench. Bradley had three players score 20 points in the same game for the first time since Dec. 4, 1998 at Western Illinois.

• Brackmann tallied her conference-best 14th double-double of the year in Thursday's game against Valpo, giving her the second most double-doubles in a season by a Brave. Only Carrie Coffman had more double-doubles in a season, collecting 20 during the 1994-95 campaign. Brackmann's rebound total sits a 289 and is fifth among Bradley seasons marks. She is 11 boards short of posting the fourth 300-rebound season in Bradley history and the 24th in conference history. In addition, Brackmann is now eighth in Bradley history with 685 career rebounds, needing 15 to become the seventh Brave to reach 700 boards. She would be the first Bradley player with 700 career rebounds as a junior.

• Haack had her highest scoring output since the MVC opener with 22 points in Thursday's victory over Valparaiso as she pushed her team-best season point total over 400 (408). The first Brave with 400 points in a season since Michelle Young had 429 points in 2013-14, Haack now has 65 three-pointers and 109 made free throws on the year. Her three-point total ranks sixth among Bradley season marks, while her 109 free throws are ninth in school history. Haack is the first player in the MVC with 65 three-pointers and 105 made free throws in a season since UNI's Madison Weekly in 2015-16. In the last 10 years, Haack is just one three MVC players to also have 140 or more rebounds with that combination to join Lizzy Wendell (2014-15) and Jacqui Kalin (2012-13) in the exclusive group.

• Petree continues to leave her mark on the Bradley record book during her rookie campaign. Her 351 points this season now rank as the third-best freshman scoring total in school history behind Judy Burns' 489 points as a frosh in 1981-82 and Karen Anderson's 358 points in 1979-80. Petree is 11 points from becoming the highest scoring MVC freshman since Drake's Sara Rhine scored 440 points in 2015-16.

• After her sixth 20-point performance of the season, Petree has now scored a Renaissance Coliseum season record 221 points. Petree, who has averaged a team-best 15.8 points per game in the 14 home games, broke Leah Kassing's previous arena season scoring mark of 208 points (15 games) set in 2011-12. Haack is right behind Petree, however, sitting at 218 points in the 14 home games (15.6 ppg) heading into the final home contest of the year. Petree has scored in double figures in 11 of 14 home games and has collected at least 18 points in seven home games. She is shooting 40 percent (32-of-80) from three-point range at Renaissance Coliseum this year.

Bradley follows up Saturday's home game by kicking off the last regular-season road trip Thursday, March 7 with a 7 p.m. game at Northern Iowa.

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