Women’s Basketball Set For First Valley Road Swing

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 1/15/2020 12:29:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After playing five of the last seven game at home, Bradley Women's Basketball puts an unblemished Missouri Valley Conference record on the line when the Braves play their first true road games in almost two months with games at Loyola (Friday) and Valparaiso (Sunday) on the first MVC road swing of the 2019-20 campaign.

Bradley (12-2 overall, 3-0 MVC) joins nationally ranked Missouri State (14-2 overall, 4-0 MVC) as the only undefeated teams remaining in Valley play after the first two weeks of conference action. The Braves own a four-game win streak after topping I-74 rival Illinois State 76-61 last Friday to extend their home win streak to a school record 13 consecutive contests.

Friday's 3 p.m. game at Loyola (12-3 overall, 3-1 MVC) along with Sunday's 1 p.m. contest at Valparaiso (10-5 overall, 2-2 MVC) will both be available on ESPN+. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast for both outings.

After sweeping the regular-season series last year, Bradley owns a 25-16 lead in the all-time series with Loyola. The Braves are 10-9 on the road in the series, winning the last three meetings in Chicago and four of the last five road contests. Overall, Bradley has won six of the last seven meetings with the Ramblers and owns a 9-6 advantage in the series since Loyola joined the MVC for the 2013-14 season.

Bradley owns a 9-2 advantage in the all-time series with Valparaiso after the teams split the regular-season series last year. The Braves are 4-2 in road games in the series following a 76-73 loss last year at the ARC. Bradley is 3-1 against the Crusaders in MVC contests.

Bradley is 3-0 to start Missouri Valley Conference play for the second time in the last three years and fifth time overall. The Braves will be trying to match the best start to Valley play in program history Friday at Loyola with the 2008-09 squad the only team at Bradley to start league play 4-0. Fourth-year head coach Andrea Gorski has been involved in four of the five 3-0 league starts in program history with two coming during her coaching tenure (2019-20 & 2017-18) along with both her freshman (1988-89) and junior (1990-91) seasons.

Bradley has played a league-low three true road games heading into the first Missouri Valley Conference road swing of the 2019-20 season. Despite playing at least three fewer road games than any other Valley squad, the Braves have five wins away from home (three neutral site wins) this season, which is tied for fourth most in the league behind Loyola (8), Missouri State (6) and Valparaiso (6). Sporting a 2-1 record in true road contests, Bradley will be playing on an opponent's home floor for the first time since the Nov. 20 win at Western Illinois and only two teams in the country (Baylor & Miami [Fla.]) have played fewer true road games through Jan. 12.

Sophomore Lasha Petree is averaging 28.0 points per game in MVC play and has scored 24 or more points in each of the first three league games. The first Bradley player to have three consecutive 20-point performances since Michelle Young did so in the first three games of the 2013-14 season, Petree has six 20-point outings through 14 contests in 2019-20 to match her season total from her freshman year. In fact, she is the Brave with 24 points or more in three straight games dating back to three consecutive 30-point games by Shelli Braud during the 1987-88 campaign. Braud is the only Bradley player to lead the MVC scoring, doing so during her senior year of 1987-88.

In addition to scoring in bunches, Petree has been making her presence felt on the defensive end and is averaging an impressive 4.3 blocks per game in MVC action. Petree, who had a career-high six blocks in last week's win over Illinois State in addition to scoring a game-high 24 points, tied for the most blocks in a game in the MVC this season and her total tied the fourth-highest single-game block total in Bradley history. She is the only player in the nation with 40 or more three-pointers and at least 25 blocked shots through games of Jan. 12. Bradley is second in the MVC in blocked shots per game (4.71), which would be the team's best season average since 2009-10 (5.03 per game).

Closing in on the Bradley career rebounding mark, senior Chelsea Brackmann has 837 career rebounds and needs eight boards to pass Leti Lerma's school record of 844 career boards. Brackmann is currently 24th in MVC history with her 837 career rebounds 20 behind the league's active career leader Sara Rhine (Drake), who is 20th all-time in league history. Brackmann scored a season-best 22 points in last week's victory against Illinois State.

Brackmann is not the only Bradley player approaching a milestone, however, with junior Gabi Haack needing 37 points to become the 19th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. Currently 21st in school history with 963 career points, Haack is 18 points from passing Gorski (980 career points) for 19th on the Bradley career scoring chart and is looking to become just the ninth junior in BU history to reach 1,000 career points. The last junior to do so was Katie Yohn in 2011-12. With Friday's game at Loyola marking her 76^th career game at Bradley, Haack is looking to become the seventh Brave to reach 1,000 career points in fewer than 80 career outings and would be the first to do since Sara Bailey in 2001-02.

Bradley follows up the weekend road swing by returning to Renaissance Coliseum, where the Braves kick off a two-game home stand Friday, Jan. 24 with a 7 p.m. contest against Northern Iowa. The game against UNI will be Cram the Coliseum night which will feature a teddy bear toss at halftime. Fans will be invited to toss new stuffed animals on to the Renaissance Coliseum court at halftime to benefit Cuddles for Kids.

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