Women’s Basketball Hosts South Dakota & Quincy To Close Non-Conference

Women's Basketball 12/16/2020 3:30:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball will close out the non-conference portion of the schedule with home games on consecutive games as the Braves host Summit League preseason favorite South Dakota Thursday and Quincy Friday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum.

Alternating wins and losses so far this young season, Bradley (3-2 overall) will try to win back-to-back games for the first time this year when they host South Dakota (2-2 overall) Thursday in a 1 p.m. contest. The Braves will have little time to rest, returning to action Friday at 2 p.m. in a home matchup with NCAA Division II foe Quincy.

Thursday's outing against South Dakota will be available on ESPN3, while Friday's game vs. Quincy can be watched on ESPN+. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast along with live stats for both games.

The Braves last played home contests on consecutive days when they hosted a season-opening tournament to kick off the 1987-88 campaign with BU posting wins over Saint Louis and Western Michigan.

Thursday's game will mark the first meeting between Bradley and South Dakota. The Braves have played just one game against any of the Dakota schools, topping North Dakota State at home last December behind a 30-point scoring effort from Lasha Petree. Picked to win the Summit League in the league's preseason poll, South Dakota has won the Summit League regular-season title in four of the last six years (including last year) in addition to collecting 26 or more wins in five of the last six seasons (169-40 - .809).

Overall, Bradley is 34-15 against current Summit League members, which includes a 20-3 home record. The Braves own a six-game win streak against Summit League foes after wins last season at Western Illinois and at home against North Dakota State. Bradley is 6-1 vs. the Summit League under head coach Andrea Gorski.

While Quincy has been a common exhibition opponent for Bradley over the years (last in 2018-19), the Braves will be playing a regular-season game against the Hawks for the first time since the 1982-83 season. BU owns a 7-3 lead in the all-time series (regular-season games), which includes a 4-0 home mark. The teams have played six exhibition games since 2005-06 with Bradley claiming all six of those contests.

Tenth-year Quincy head coach Jeni Garber is no stranger to Bradley. In fact, prior to taking over the head coaching job at Quincy for the 2011-12 season, Garber spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach with the Braves (2000-01 through 2010-11) with Bradley posting a 53-40 overall record and 30-24 MVC mark over her final three seasons on The Hilltop. Garber's father, Bob, played both basketball and baseball at Bradley and is a member of the BU Hall of Fame.

Sunday's comeback victory against Northern Illinois marked the seventh time in the five-year tenure of head coach Andrea Gorski Bradley has rallied from a double digit deficit for a win and second time this year (at Wright State). The last time the Braves did so at home was Feb. 8, 2019 against Indiana State when Petree had 13 points and three steals in a 46-second span to help Bradley go on a 21-3 run to close the 81-80 victory.

Petree, who was named MVC Player of the Week for the fifth time in her career on Monday, is closing in on 1,000 career points after her big 30-point effort against Northern Illinois. She enters the final two non-conference games tied with head coach Andrea Gorski for 21st in Bradley history at 980 career points and needs 20 more to become the 21st Brave to reach the 1,000-point mark. Appearing in 64 career games (15.3 ppg career average), Petree is looking to become just the fourth player in Bradley history to reach 1,000 career points in fewer than 70 games. She has averaged 20.6 points per game in her last 10 non-conference contests.

Fellow Junior Tatum Koenig scored a season-best 12 points Sunday against Northern Illinois, but the point guard also dished out seven assists without a turnover. Koenig turned in the 13th performance in program history of at least seven assists without committing a turnover and has dished out 16 assists with just one turnover over the last two contests. Through games of Dec. 14, Koenig was 18th nationally in total assists and 40th in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Senior Nyjah White returned to the lineup Sunday and notched her second double-double of the young season against Northern Illinois. White, who is averaging 13.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this year, is now one five players in Bradley history with 700 career points, 400 rebounds, 190 assists, 55 blocks and at least 95 steals. The last Brave to reach those numbers was Katie Yohn (2009-13). She needs 71 rebounds, seven assists, 10 blocks and three steals to join Heather Best as the lone Bradley players with 700 points, 500 boards, 200 assists, 65 blocks and 100 steals.

Bradley will have a two-week break from competition after taking on Quincy Friday before opening Missouri Valley Conference play Jan. 1 & 2 at Drake.

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Players Mentioned

#13 Tatum Koenig: G; 5' 7"; Junior

#11 Lasha Petree: G; 6' 0"; Junior

#45 Nyjah White: F; 5' 11"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#13 Tatum Koenig
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

#11 Lasha Petree
: 6' 0"; Junior
: G

#45 Nyjah White
: 5' 11"; Senior
: F

Women’s Basketball Hosts South Dakota & Quincy To Close Non-Conference

Players Mentioned

#13 Tatum Koenig

#11 Lasha Petree

#45 Nyjah White

Players Mentioned

#13 Tatum Koenig

#11 Lasha Petree

#45 Nyjah White