PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball turned in one of its best defensive efforts of the season and received double-doubles from both Chelsea Brackmann and Nyjah White as the Braves stayed unbeaten in Missouri Valley Conference play after a 61-47 victory over Northern Iowa Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.
Brackmann finished with game highs of 16 points and 14 rebounds for her third double-double of the year, while White had 15 points and 11 board for her first double-double of the season to highlight the victory for Bradley (15-2 overall, 6-0 MVC), which extended its school record home win streak to 14 games.
The Braves remained in first place in the MVC standings at 6-0, one game ahead of both Drake and Missouri State (5-1). Extending its overall win streak to seven games, Bradley has won six consecutive Valley games to match the longest conference win streak in school history (last done in 2009-10). Friday's victory also snapped a 16-game losing streak in the series with Northern Iowa which dated back to a 76-61 home win in Feb. 2012.
Both teams got off to sluggish starts with Bradley scoring the first points of the night on a pair of Lasha Petree free throws four-and-a-half minutes into the game. Northern Iowa (11-6 overall, 3-3 MVC) answered with a 6-0 run and the Panthers led 10-4 with just under two minutes to play before sophomore Tatum Koenig assisted a Brackmann hoop and hit a pull-up three-pointer in the closing minute to cut the UNI lead to 10-9 at the end of the opening period.
Bradley held Northern Iowa to just one basket in the first 8:30 of the second quarter, a Megan Maahs three-pointer at the 7:53 mark, and outscored the Panthers 17-3 over the first 7:40 of the period to build a double-digit lead. Petree opened the period with a three-pointer to give Bradley the lead and White sandwiched a pair of driving layups around the Maahs three-pointer.
White scored six points during the run, adding another layup as Bradley led 18-13 nearing the midway point of the frame. A Koenig layup made it a seven-point advantage (20-13) and Brackmann had hoops on consecutive Bradley possessions to give the Braves a 24-13 edge. The BU lead was 26-13 with 2:22 left before halftime after a Koenig hoop and the Braves eventually took a 29-17 lead into the locker room.
Bradley opened the second half much like the first, going nearly five minutes before scoring. The Braves were 0-for-10 from the field to start the second half, allowing UNI to trim the BU advantage to 29-23 before a White basket ended the drought. Bradley was 4-of-6 from the field to close the half, however, and went 10-of-12 from the free throw line down the stretch to close the stanza.
Brackmann scored seven points during a 14-0 BU run over a four-minute stretch as the BU lead ballooned to 20 (43-23) nearing the one-minute mark. Brackmann capped the run by blocking a three-point attempt on the defensive end, rebounding the loose ball and getting a breakaway layup on the other end. The Braves led 47-26 at the end of the third.
Freshman Mahri Petree gave Bradley its largest lead of the night with a three-pointer at the 7:28 mark of the fourth quarter and the BU lead never dipped below 10 down the stretch as the Braves improved to 6-0 with the 61-47 victory.
Bradley held Northern Iowa to 30.9 percent shooting, which included 10-for-41 (24.4 percent) shooting through the first three quarter before a late-game push by the Panthers. The Braves also committed a season-low seven turnovers.
Bre Gunnels led UNI with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Bradley closes out a two-game MVC home stand Sunday with a 2 p.m. game against defending MVC regular-season champion Drake at Renaissance Coliseum. The Braves will host a free post-game shootaround following the matchup with the Bulldogs with kids in 8th grade or younger in attendance able to join the Bradley players on the Renaissance Coliseum court following the game.