Women’s Basketball Hosts Drake In Sunday Matinee

Josh Schwam

Women's Basketball 1/25/2020 12:28:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After improving to 6-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play for the first time in program history with a 61-47 victory over Northern Iowa Friday, Bradley Women's Basketball closes out a two-game home stand Sunday with a 2 p.m. game against Drake at Renaissance Coliseum.

The Braves (15-2 overall, 6-0 MVC) maintained their hold on sole possession of first-place in the Valley standings with Friday's win against the Panthers, which snapped a 16-game losing streak in the series with UNI that dated back to Feb. 2012.

Sunday's matchup against Drake features the first-place Braves, who have won seven consecutive games and own a school-record 14-game home win streak, and the three-time defending MVC regular-season champion Bulldogs (13-5 overall, 5-1 MVC). Drake is tied with Missouri State for second in the Valley standings, one game behind Bradley, after pulling out a 69-67 overtime win at Illinois State Friday.

Bradley will host a free post-game shootaround following Sunday's game open to all children in attendance (8^th grade or younger).

Sunday's game will be available on ESPN3, while BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.

Bradley is 6-0 to start MVC play for the first time in program history and the Braves bring a seven-game win streak into Sunday's game against Drake. The first MVC team other than Drake or Missouri State to start conference play 6-0 since Wichita State (8-0 in 2014-15), Bradley is the 22^nd Valley team dating back to 1992-93 to open league action with at least a 6-0 mark. Twelve of those 21 teams went on to claim at least a share of the MVC regular-season title and 19 of the 21 finished second or better. All 21 teams that were 6-0 to start Valley play over the previous 27 seasons went on to finish in the top three of the league standings.
The Braves bring several streaks into Sunday's game besides the perfect 6-0 conference record. Bradley has won a school-record 14 consecutive home games, which is tied for the sixth longest active streak in the nation through Friday's games. The current seven-game win streak matches Bradley's win streak from earlier this season and the Braves have two win streaks of seven or more games in the same season for the first time in program history. BU's six-game MVC win streak ties for the longest in program history, last done in 2009-10 and the 2008-09 squad is the only other Bradley team to have a Valley win streak of at least six games. The Braves have also won a school-record 10 consecutive home Valley games dating back to the team's last loss at Renaissance Coliseum Jan. 18 vs. Missouri State.
Bradley had a season-low seven turnovers in Friday's win against Northern Iowa for the team's fewest turnovers in a game since a seven-turnover outing against Evansville in the opening round of the 2018 MVC Tournament. The seven turnovers tied for the fewest turnovers in a game during fourth-year Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski's tenure on The Hilltop. Bradley has averaged just 12.5 turnovers in Valley play (best in the league) after the Braves averaged 17.2 turnovers per outing during the non-conference portion of the schedule. Having eight or fewer turnovers in three of the last five home games, the Braves have averaged 15.6 assists with just 9.6 turnovers per outing in the last five outings at Renaissance Coliseum.
Friday's win against Northern Iowa was Bradley's 15^th victory of the year, giving the Braves at least 15 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010-11 (15) and 2011-12 (18). In fact, the 35 wins over the last two seasons are the most in a two-year stretch on The Hilltop dating back to the 2008-09 (21) and 2009-10 (17) campaigns. The school record win wins a two-year stretch is 39 by the 1979-80 (20) and 1980-81 (19) teams. For the first time in program history, Bradley has 15 wins before the start of February. Last year the Braves earned their 15^th victory on Feb. 3 at Loyola, which was the earliest BU had ever reached the 15-win mark prior to this season.
Bradley has held two of its last three opponents to under 31 percent shooting and three of six Valley opponents to date have failed to shoot over 32 percent from the field against the Braves. Northern Iowa shot just 30.9 percent from the field in Friday's game. Over the last 52 minutes of action played at Renaissance Coliseum, opponents have shot a combined 17-for-68 (25%).
Senior Chelsea Brackmann (16 pts & 14 reb) and sophomore Nyjah White (15 pts & 11 reb) each turned in double-doubles to help highlight Friday's victory over Northern Iowa. Brackmann collected her 23^rd career double-double (3^rd all-time at Bradley) and also turned in her 35^th career double-digit rebounding effort, which is second behind the school record of 36 career games with 10 or more rebounds held by Sonya Harris (2007-10). Brackmann has had double-doubles in each of her last three outings against Northern Iowa, including a 22-point, 24-rebound effort in last year's overtime loss at home. For White, her double-double was her first of the year and third of her career. White was the sixth different Bradley player to collect a double-double this year to mark the first time for the Braves since the 2008-09 team, which won a school record 21 games, had six different individuals with double-doubles. The only other seasons on record in Bradley history in which six different players had doubles-doubles are 1981-82 (6) and 1980-81 (6).
The double-double performances by Chelsea Brackmann and Nyjah White came at just the right time with Northern Iowa holding Lasha Petree 13.5 points below her season average coming into the game and Gabi Haack had just eight points in the win. The combo of Petree and Haack combined for 13 points, which tied for the lowest combined point total for the duo 48 career games together (Eureka – 11/16/19). In fact, Friday's game marked the first game that at least one of the two failed to score in double figures.
Junior Gabi Haack moved up one spot on Bradley's career scoring list Friday, while senior Chelsea Brackmann moved up two spots on the all-time chart with her 16-point effort. Haack passed former teammate Anneke Schlueter for 18^th in Bradley history and now has 1,008 career points, needing 11 points to pass Carol Baresch (1,018 points) for 17^th all-time. In addition, Haack is just 25 points from jumping up three spots into 15^th. Brackmann moved into 21^st on the scoring chart at 968 points and sits 12 points behind head coach Andrea Gorski's career total of 980 points, which is 20^th all-time on The Hilltop. Sophomore Lasha Petree is at 698 career points in her near two years at Bradley, needing two points Sunday to become just the fifth Bradley player to reach the 700-point mark in 48 games or fewer. The last to do so was South Florida transfer Tammy Van Oppen as a senior in 1996-97.