PEORIA, Ill. -- Senior Gabi Haack broke Bradley's career three-point record and Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year Lasha Petree scored 22 first-half points to help Bradley Women's Basketball to an 84-70 season-opening victory over Kansas City Wednesday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum.
Petree scored all of her game-high 22 points in the first half, helping the Braves (1-0 overall) to a 37-34 halftime advantage over Kansas City (0-1 overall), which claimed the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title last year. The 22-point half matched Petree's highest scoring half of her Bradley career.
Not to be outdone, however, Haack was 5-for-8 from the field in the second half (including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc) and scored 16 of her 19 points in the final 20 minutes. Haack hit all four of her second half three-pointers in the third quarter, finishing with five trey's on the day. After scoring the first four points of the third, Haack hit a pair of three-pointers during a 14-2 Bradley third-quarter spurt that gave Bradley its largest lead of the day at 55-38 with 3:42 to play in the period.
With just under 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Haack hit a corner three-pointer to break the Bradley career three-point field goal mark of 210 set by Katie Yohn during the 2012-13 season as she gave the Braves a 65-50 edge.
Kansas City managed to trim the lead to 10 points several times in the final stanza, with the last coming nearing the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter (74-64). Bradley never led the lead dip under double digits down the stretch, holding the Roos to just four points in the final 5:20 or game action to close out the 82-68 victory.
Four Bradley players scored in double figures, paced by Petree's game-high 22 points. Haack connected on five-of-nine three-pointers, finishing with 19 points to go with nine rebounds. Sophomore Mahri Petree added her first career double-double (13 points & 10 rebounds), while senior Nyjah White closed the day with 10 points.
Freshman Tete Danso had an impressive debut as she hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds, in addition to tallying six points and three steals in just 20 minutes of action; helping the Braves to a 57-34 rebounding advantage.
Bradley is scheduled to close out a two-game season-opening home stand Saturday with a 6 p.m. contest against Milwaukee at Renaissance Coliseum.