PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball led three-time defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Drake for most of the game, but needed some big plays down the stretch as the Braves topped the Bulldogs 77-76 Sunday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum to improve to 7-0 in league play.
Four Bradley players scored in double figures, paced by junior Gabi Haack who had 25 points and 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. Sophomore Tatum Koenig was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and knocked down four three-pointers as she added 16 points in the victory. Sophomore Lasha Patree chipped in with 11 points in 22 minutes, while junior Nyjah White had 10 points of her own.
Bradley (16-2 overall, 7-0 MVC) snapped a 12-game losing streak in the series with Drake (13-6 overall, 5-2) and the Braves now own a one-game lead on 22nd-ranked Missouri State in the MVC standings heading into a road game against the Bears Friday in Springfield, Mo.
The victory extended Bradley's home win streak to a school-record 15 games, which is tied for the fourth longest active streak in the nation. The Braves also pushed their overall win streak to a season-best eight games to tie for the third longest win streak in program history behind a pair of nine game win streaks from 2018-19 and 2001-02.
Despite battling foul trouble all afternoon, Bradley held the lead for most of the contest. The Braves held a 65-58 advantage closing in on six minutes to play in the game after a pair of Haack free throws. Drake answered with a 9-2 run to tie the game, however, to knot things up at 67-67 with 3:36 left to play. Petree put Bradley back in front 69-67 with a pair of free throws on the next BU possession, only to have Drake's Sara Rhine get a hoop to tie the score once again at 69-69 with 2:40 remaining.
The Braves missed a three-pointer on their next possession and another hoop by Rhine closing in on the two-minute mark gave the Bulldogs their first lead (71-69) since midway through the first quarter.
Petree missed her first 11 shots from the field, but drained a three-pointer from the wing with 1:42 left to once again put BU on top 72-71. A Bradley foul with 1:25 to play put Drake's Brenni Rose at the line for a pair as the Bulldogs regained the advantage 73-72.
A big offensive rebound by junior Emily Marsh led to a put-back basket as the Braves regained the lead at 74-73. Drake turned the ball over with 46 seconds to play and senior Chelsea Brackmann came up with a big offensive rebound with under 20 seconds to play to force Drake to foul down the stretch. Petree split a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left as the Bradley lead was 75-73.
Senior Chelsea Brackmann blocked a Maddie Monahan shot near the basket with 2.1 seconds left and the Braves got the ball out of bounds under the Drake hoop to force the Bulldogs to foul again. A pair of Marsh free throws with 1.7 seconds gave Bradley a 77-73 edge.
Drake advanced the ball to half court after a timeout and Hittner hit a three-pointer from the corner with 0.2 seconds to play, cutting the BU lead to 77-76. The Braves were able to get the ball in to run out the clock for their first win in the series since a 93-84 home win on Feb. 21, 2013.
Haack scored 16 of her team-high 25 points in the opening quarter, helping Bradley erase a seven-point deficit. Drake scored the first six points of the game and jumped out a 9-2 advantage. Haack hit three consecutive three-pointers and scored 11 points to highlight a 14-0 BU run which turned an 11-5 deficit into a 19-11 Bradley lead. The Braves went on to lead 23-17 at the end of the first.
Four Bradley starters picked up two fouls in the first half with three doing so within the first 12 minutes of the contest. Petree missed most of the second quarter after she was called for her second foul late in the first. Brackmann and White were both whistled for their second fouls in the first two minutes of the second quarter and also missed most of the period.
Despite the foul trouble, Bradley held Drake to 23.5 percent shooting in the second. The Bulldogs made their first three shots to start the period, before making just 1-of-16 over the final eight minutes of the half. Bradley was able to take advantage of Drake's struggles from the field and extended the lead to 10 at halftime on a Koenig three-pointer in the final minute.
Haack made 5-of-8 three-pointers for the afternoon as she passed Genny Mueller for second on Bradley's three-point field goals list, pushing her career total to 185 career triples. Haack also moved up three spots on Bradley's career scoring list (1,033 career points), overtaking Carol Baresch (1,018 points), Dena Williams (1,030 points) and Deven Flanagan (1,032 points) for 15th in career scoring at BU.
Hittner led Drake in scoring with a game-high 29 points to go with 10 rebounds, making 11-of-15 free throw attempts. Rhine joined Hittner in double figures with 16 points. Drake shot 38.2 percent from the floor for the day.
Bradley opens a season-long, three-game home stand Friday with a 7 p.m. game at 22nd-ranked Missouri State in a game featuring the top two teams in the MVC standings.