ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Junior Chelsea Brackmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) was a First-Team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete and sophomore Gabi Haack (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) was a Second-Team Valley Scholar-Athlete selection according to an announcement by the league office Tuesday.
Bradley Women's Basketball had two individuals named to the MVC's Scholar-Athlete squads for the first time since 2013-14 when Michelle Young (First Team) and Kelsey Budd (Second Team) both earned the honor. Brackmann is the first Brave to land on the Valley's First-Team Scholar-Athlete squad since Young in 2014-15.
The leading rebounder in the MVC this season at 10.9 boards per game, Brackmann owns a league-high 16 double-doubles in 2018-19. She is currently 11th in the conference in scoring at 12.8 points per contest. A health science major with a 3.50 cumulative grade point average, Brackmann ranks 21st in the nation in rebounds per game and enters this week's MVC Tournament needing eight rebounds to break Leti Lerma's school season rebounding record of 324 set in 2016-17.
Brackmann's 16 double-doubles are second in school history behind only Carrie Coffman's school record of 20 from 1994-95 and is tied for the 13th-best season total in MVC history. Currently seventh in Bradley history with 713 career rebounds, Brackmann scored her 800th career point last Thursday at Northern Iowa and is the fastest player in school history to reach 700 career boards. She is eight rebounds from pushing her season total among the top 10 in Valley history and is one of six players in the country to have 370 points, 315 rebounds, 35 assists, 25 blocks and 45 or more steals.
Haack ranks fifth in the MVC in scoring at 15.2 points per tilt and has connected on a league-high 69 three-pointers this season. Her season point total of 440 is the highest at Bradley since Leah Kassing in 2011-12 and she needs 13 points for the highest season point total by a Brave since 2001-02. In addition to leading the MVC in three-pointers, Haack is fourth in the league with 119 made free throws.
Just the third MVC player in the last 23 seasons to make 65 three-pointers and 115 free throws in addition to pulling down 150 or more rebounds, Haack is an elementary education major with a 3.70 cumulative grade point average. She is seventh in Bradley history with 137 career three-pointers and is looking to become just the second player in the last 20 years to lead the team in scoring and assists in the same season. Haack is 14th in the nation in free throw percentage, shooting 88.1 percent from the charity stripe. Her 767 career points are the second-most by a Bradley player prior to their junior season.
The criteria for the scholar-athlete team balloting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for the Google Cloud Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, have played at least 75-percent of a team's games, and must carry at least a 3.20 GPA (on a 4.0 scale). Student-athletes must also have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true and redshirt freshmen are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at the institution. A total of 42 Valley student-athletes met the nomination criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2019.
The duo has helped Bradley to just the third 20-win season in school history (20-9 overall) in addition to a fifth-place conference showing for the squad's best league finish since 2009-10.
The Braves face #4 seed Illinois State Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals at the TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Ill.
