Braves Finish Out Road Slate Saturday At #23 Drake

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 3/8/2019 11:28:00 AM

DES MOINES, Iowa – Bradley Women's Basketball will try to rebound from a tough 61-57 setback to Northern Iowa Thursday night in Cedar Falls, Iowa., with one of its toughest tests of the season as the Braves finish the regular-season road schedule with a Saturday afternoon game at 23^rd-ranked Drake.

After trailing from the start Thursday at Northern Iowa, Bradley (20-8 overall, 10-7 MVC) rallied from 10 points down early in the fourth quarter to take a 57-56 lead with 90 seconds to play on a Tatum Koenig three-pointer. The Panthers answered with a hoop on the other end and scored the final five points of the contest to snap a three-game win streak for the Braves.

Bradley is tied with I-74 rival Illinois State for fourth in the Valley standings at 10-7 after both teams lost road games Thursday. The two teams will meet in next week's MVC Tournament quarterfinals, but their seeds are still to be determined. The Braves can lock up the #4 seed with a victory Saturday at Drake (24-5 overall, 16-1 MVC) or an Illinois State loss at Northern Iowa with Bradley owning the tie-breaker with the Redbirds thanks to a regular-season sweep.

Drake earned at least a share of the MVC regular-season title with its home win over Illinois State last night. Bradley will have a chance to keep the Bulldogs from earning the outright regular-season title Saturday with a win, but Drake can also claim the outright regular-season championship with a Missouri State loss at Indiana State Saturday.

Saturday's 2 p.m. game at the Knapp Center will be available on ESPN+ and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to the radio broadcast (95.9 FM The Sports Nut) along with live stats.

Bradley will face a ranked opponent for the first time since #17 Oklahoma visited Renaissance Coliseum on Nov. 22, 2015. The Braves are 0-21 all-time against ranked team's entering Saturday's game at #23 Drake, which is the first ranked MVC foe for Bradley dating back to a game at then #23 Missouri State on Feb. 10, 2004. BU is 0-14 on the road against ranked opponents.
Bradley will be trying to win its final game of the season for the first time since 2012-13 when the Braves won at Evansville in the final true road game. The last time Bradley closed the regular season on the road with a victory came in 2011-12 (at Missouri State), which was the last time the Braves had a winning record in the regular season (16-14) and reached the second round of the WBI during an 18-16 campaign.
Bradley isn't used to closing the regular season on the road, with the Braves finishing the regular-season schedule at home in 12 of the last 15 years. In fact, Bradley has finished the regular-season schedule at home in 25 of 40 years of conference membership.

Bradley has made 174 three-pointers on the season, one short of matching last year's total and the Braves are closing in on the school season mark for three-point makes. With at least two games remaining, BU's 174 triples are the fifth-best season total in school history and 14 back of the school record of 188 three's set during the 1994-95 season when Bradley averaged a school-record 7.0 three's per game.
Among the top 10 in the nation in free throws made per game, Bradley's 16.2 made free throws per outing is the fourth highest average in school history and best since the Braves made 17.1 free throws per game in 2013-14. In fact the 2013-14 Bradley team was the last Valley squad to average at least 16.2 made free throws per game. The team's 453 makes from the charity stripe are sixth among Bradley season marks and most since the 2013-14 team made 512 in 30 games.
Junior Chelsea Brackmann continues to rack up the numbers, turning in her 16^th double-double of the year Thursday at Northern Iowa. She is the first Valley player with 16 double-doubles in a season since Dyana Pierre of SIU had 16 in 2014-15 and her total is second in school history. She scored her 800^th career point in addition to hauling down her 700^th career rebound Thursday at UNI. Brackmann is looking to become the first player in the MVC with 17 or more double-doubles in a season since Rachel Hackbarth (Drake) had 26 in 2011-12.
Brackmann's 310 rebounds on the year rank as the second-best season total in Bradley and she is just 15 from breaking the Bradley season rebounding mark of 324 set by Leti Lerma in 2016-17. Brackmann's rebound total ranks 19^th among MVC season marks and she is 10 boards short of the 15^th season with 320 or more rebounds in Valley history. Lerma's school record 324 rebounds from 2016-17 is 12^th among conference season marks.
Sophomore Gabi Haack scored a team-high 15 points Thursday at Northern Iowa and also had five rebounds and four assists. The first MVC player with 65 made threes and 115 made free throws in a season since UNI's Madison Weekly in 2015-16, Haack is now just the third Valley player in the last 23 years to also have 150 or more rebounds with that combination. The last player in the MVC to hit 65 triples, make 115 free throws and pull down at least 150 boards was UNI's Jacqui Kalin during her 2012-13 MVC Player of the Year campaign. Joining Haack and Kalin in the exclusive group is Missouri State's Jenni Lingor, who reached those numbers during her 2004-05 MVC Player of the Year season.
Haack, who hit 6-of-12 three-pointers and had 22 points in last year's game at the Knapp Center, enters Saturday's game at Drake with 427 points on the season. She needs three points for the highest scoring season at Bradley since Leah Kassing scored 452 points as a senior in 2011-12 and Haack is 26 points from the most points in a season by a Brave dating back to 2001-02 when Sara Bailey ranked second in the MVC in scoring with 487 points (18.0 ppg).
The conference leader in three-point makes with 67, Haack is three triples short of just the fifth season in Bradley with 70 three-pointers. She is currently one three-point make from matching her season total from last year and could become the first Brave with 70 three-pointers in a season since Michelle Lund made 75 as a freshman in 2008-09.

The Braves will head to Moline, Ill., next week for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with Bradley taking on I-74 rival Illinois State in a 2:30 p.m. quarterfinal matchup.

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