ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- For the first time in program history Bradley Women's Basketball had a pair of First-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference selections and a school-record three individuals earn all-league honors according to an announcement by the league office Wednesday morning.
Junior forward Chelsea Brackmann and sophomore guard Gabi Haack were both named first-team all-conference selections, while freshman guard Lasha Petree earned honorable mention all-league honors. In addition to the all-conference recognition, Brackmann was named to the Valley's All-Defensive Team and Petree was selected to the MVC's All-Freshman Team.
Bradley had not had multiple players earn all-conference honors in the same season since 2010-11 when Katie Yohn and Raisa Taylor were both honorable mention selections. The three all-conference honorees are a school record and marked the eighth time the Braves had at least two all-conference performers.
Brackmann has a conference-best 16 double-doubles on the season for the highest total in the league since 2014-15 and ranks 21st in the nation in rebounds per game at 10.9 boards per outing. She is one of six players in the nation with 370 points, 315 rebounds, 35 assists, 25 blocks and 45 or more steals this season and the first Valley player to reach those marks since Drake's Rachel Hackbarth in 2011-12.
Currently seventh in career rebounding at Bradley with 713 career boards, Brackmann needs eight rebounds to break Leti Lerma's school season mark of 324 rebounds set in 2016-17 and push her season total among the top 10 in league history. She is 11th in the MVC in scoring this season at 12.8 points per outing. Brackmann was named a First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete selection Tuesday and is the first Brave to be named first-team all-conference and a First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete in the same season since Sara Bailey in 2001-02.
Defensively, Brackmann leads the team in steals with 47 and is second on the squad with blocks at 29 to rank eighth in the MVC in both. She has a chance to become the first Bradley player to lead the team in both blocks and steals in the same season dating back to 2012-13 (Yohn). The last Bradley player to earn a spot on the MVC All-Defensive team was Lerma in 2016-17.
Haack leads Bradley in scoring at 15.2 points per game and also dishes out a team-high 2.3 assists per outing. Her league-leading 69 three-pointers in 2018-19 rank fifth among season marks and she is fourth in the MVC with 119 made free throws, which is seventh in Bradley history. Haack has scored in double figures a team-best 25 times and was named MVP of the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament after scoring a career-best 32 points in the championship game against FAU.
Just the third player in the MVC 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 one of just three players in the nation with those totals this season; joining Big 12 Conference Player of the Year Bridget Carleton (Iowa State) and Missouri's Sophie Cunningham in the group.
Haack's 15.2 points per game average is the best by a Brave dating back to 2001-02 and she is looking to become the first player to lead the team in both scoring and assists since 2010-11. She is 79th in the nation in three-pointers per game and her 88.1 free throw percentage is 14th in the country through games of March 10.
Bradley had a Valley All-Freshman selection for the third consecutive year with Petree joining Haack (2017-18) and Brackmann (2016-17) among the recent winners for the Braves. In addition, she is the first Bradley frosh to take home all-conference honors since Yohn was an honorable mention pick in 2009-10 and just the third freshman in program history to land on the all-conference squads with Karin Nicholls also garnering honorable mention All-Gateway Conference honors as a freshman in 1986-87.
Petree has led Bradley in scoring a team-high 10 times and is 10th in the MVC in scoring at 13.0 points per contest. A five-time MVC Newcomer of the Week selection in 2018-19, she was named MVC Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 17.
Petree's 378 points rank as the second-best season total by a Bradley freshman behind only Judy Burns, who scored 489 points as a frosh in 1981-82, and her 53 three-pointers rank fourth among Bradley freshman marks. She has topped 20 points six times and scored 18 or more in 11 outings. Petree is the highest scoring freshman in the MVC since Drake's Sara Rhine had 440 points in 2015-16.
Scoring in double figures in seven of the last nine games, Petree averaged 14.1 points per game in the second half of the league schedule. She leads the team in blocks with 30 to rank seventh in the MVC and her 1.6 steals per game is good for 10th in the league with both totals seventh all-time among Bradley freshmen.
Bradley faces I-74 rival Illinois State Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals at the TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Ill.
