Braves Look To Rebound Sunday At Southern Illinois

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 2/1/2020 12:04:00 PM

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Tied for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings at 7-1, Bradley Women's Basketball looks to rebound from its first conference loss of the season Sunday when the Braves visit Southern Illinois for a 2 p.m. game.

Bradley (16-3 overall, 7-1 MVC) had a school record seven-game conference win streak snapped Friday at #21/24 Missouri State with the Bears topping the Braves 90-56. For the first time all season Bradley will play a game in which both teams are coming off a loss with Southern Illinois (12-7 overall, 4-4 MVC) dropping a 62-54 decision to Illinois State Friday.

The Salukis, who have won three of their last four, enter Sunday's game at the Banterra Center in a tie with Loyola and Northern Iowa for fifth in the league standings.

Sunday's game is available on ESPN+ and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats in addition to the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.

Friday's loss at Missouri State not only snapped a school record seven-game conference win streak, but brought to an end an eight-game overall win streak. The eight-game win streak was tied for the third longest in school history and was one short of tying the longest win streaks (9) in program history (2018-19 & 2001-02).
Despite the setback Friday, Bradley's 7-1 start to MVC is its best record through eight conference games in program history, surpassing 6-2 marks to open league play in both 2009-10 and 1989-90 (head coach Andrea Gorski's sophomore year). The Braves are already guaranteed to at least match its best record at the halfway point of the conference schedule at 7-2, which has only been reached once by the Braves in that 1989-90 campaign. BU will be 6-3 or better at the halfway point of the league slate for just the fifth time with Gorski a part of three of those teams (including this season). In addition to her sophomore season's 7-2 start to Gateway Conference play, Bradley opened her 1990-91 junior season with a 6-3 mark in the Gateway.
Although Bradley is looking for its first road win the series with Southern Illinois since March 1, 2013, the Braves have had some success in Carbondale, Ill., over the years. The teams have split the last 12 games at SIU with the Salukis winning the last six meetings in Carbondale after Bradley had won six consecutive road games in the series. The Braves lost their first 20 games played at SIU, which included five games during head coach Andrea Gorski's time as a student-athlete, but are 11-8 in road games in the series since. Gorski is looking for her first win at SIU during her near eight full years as a coach or student-athlete at Bradley.
Bradley will play on Super Bowl Sunday for the sixth consecutive year and ninth time in the last 11 seasons. The Braves are 6-6 all-time when playing on the same day at the Super Bowl after a 69-56 win at Loyola last year. Bradley is 3-3 when playing on the road on the day of the big game, which includes a 1-1 record in Carbondale. The Braves and Salukis will be meeting on Super Bowl Sunday for the fourth time with SIU owning a 2-1 record in those matchups. Southern Illinois won 65-51 in Peoria in 2016 after a 76-59 win in Carbondale the previous year in 2015. Bradley posted a 60-45 road win in 2010.
Friday's game at Missouri State kicked off a season-long, three-game road swing for the Braves, who are 4-2 in true road contests. Bradley went 2-1 on its three-game MVC road swing last year, following up a perfect 3-0 MVC road swing to open the 2017-18 Valley schedule. Bradley has won at least one game during its MVC three-game road swing each of the three previous years under fourth-year head coach Andrea Gorski.
Junior Gabi Haack made her first four free throws Friday at Missouri State in a 5-for-6 effort at the charity stripe to break the Bradley record for consecutive made free throws. Haack had made 34 consecutive free throws dating back to the Dec. 10 game against Jackson State before missing her first free throw attempt in the second half. Genny Mueller held the previous school record of 33 consecutive made free throws, setting the mark during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons over a 17-game stretch. Shooting 85.1 percent from the free throw line on the year, Haack was 22-for-31 (71 percent) from the charity stripe through the first nine games of the season and is 35-of-36 over the last 10 outings. Her streak is the ninth longest in MVC history.
Senior Chelsea Brackmann passed head coach Andrea Gorski's on Bradley's career scoring list in Friday's outing at Missouri State and is now 20^th all-time in scoring at BU with 986 points entering Sunday's game at Southern Illinois. Gorski wrapped up her Bradley career with 980 points. Brackmann is looking to become the 20^th player in Bradley history to reach 1,000 career points. She has averaged 9.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in her career against Southern Illinois, turning in double-doubles in two of her three games in Carbondale. Brackmann has three career double-doubles against the Salukis, including both matchups last year, and averaged 13.5 points and 11.0 rebounds vs. SIU in 2018-19. The Braves have not had a pair of active players with 1,000 career points since the end of the 2004-05 season.
Gabi Haack is poised to climb another spot on Bradley's all-time scoring list, currently ranking 15^th in Bradley history with 1,043 career points. Haack is just six points from passing Val Wancket (1987-91), who is a former teammate of head coach Andrea Gorski and the mother of former Saluki Celina VanHyfte. Haack is currently 19 points behind Michelle Young for 13^th place in Bradley history (1,062 points).
Despite an off-shooting night, sophomore Lasha Petree was able to keep a streak alive with a fourth-quarter three-pointer Friday at Missouri State and has now hit a three-pointer in 16 consecutive games since an 0-for-2 outing from beyond the arc in a blowout win against Eureka on Nov. 16. The 16 consecutive games with a three-pointer is tied for the fourth longest streak in Bradley history and is the longest by a Brave since Katie Yohn had 18 consecutive games with a triple during the 2010-11 campaign. Petree has 104 career trey's during her time at Bradley, six short of the top 10 in BU history. She tied for game-high honors with 18 points in last year's game at Southern Illinois, but did not hit a three-pointer in that contest.