SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Bradley Women's Basketball suffered its first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season with #21/24 Missouri State topping the Braves 90-56 to snap BU's seven-game MVC win streak and eight-game overall win streak Friday night at JQH Arena.
The loss dropped Bradley (16-3 overall, 7-1 MVC) into a tie with Missouri State (17-3 overall, 7-1 MVC) for first in the Valley standings, ending a school-record seven-game conference win streak. The Braves scored a season-low 56 points and shot 31 percent from the field in the loss. The eight-game win streak tied for the third longest in program history.
Senior Chelsea Brackmann had team highs of 12 points and six rebounds to pace Bradley, while junior Gabi Haack and sophomore Lasha Petree joined her in double figures with 10 points apiece.
Bradley scored the first four points of the night, but Missouri State answered with a 9-2 run. The Braves trailed 12-10 with three minutes to play in the period after a Tatum Koenig hoop late in the shot clock. Missouri State scored the final six points of the period, however, and led 18-10 after the opening 10 minutes.
The Braves managed just one field goal in the second quarter, going 1-for-11 from the field. Missouri State was able to push the lead to 32-16 closing in on four minutes in the period. With Bradley trailing 32-18, the Bears closed the half with an 8-2 run to build a 40-20 advantage at the break. The Braves shot 22 percent from the field and had nine first-half turnovers.
Bradley made four of its first six shots from the field to start the third quarter, but Missouri State answered each time to extend the lead to 56-31 with just under four minutes to play in the period. The Bears pushed the advantage to 70-35 by the end of the third quarter and cruised to the victory.
Haack went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the first half to push her streak of consecutive made free throws to 34 as she broke the Bradley record for consecutive made free throws of 33 held by Genny Mueller from the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.
Brackmann finished with team highs of 12 points and six rebounds, passing head coach Andrea Gorski for 20th on Bradley's all-time scoring list and now has 986 career points.
Four of five Missouri State starters scored in double figures and six Bears had nine points or more. Jasmine Franklin and Brice Calip paced the Bears with 15 points each. Missouri State shot 46 percent from the field and committed just six turnovers.
Bradley returns to action Sunday with a 2 p.m. game at Southern Illinois in the second game of a season-long, three-game road swin