PEORIA, Ill. -- Senior Chelsea Brackmann scored a game and season-high 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting and sophomore Lasha Petree added 22 points of her own as Bradley Women's Basketball pushed its home win streak to 16 games with a 90-69 victory over Valparaiso Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.
The Braves (18-4 overall, 9-2 MVC) shot 56.1 percent from the field in the victory, completing the regular-season sweep of Valparaiso (13-10 overall, 5-7 MVC) to hang on to sole possession of second in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. The 16-game home win streak is tied for the fifth longest active streak in the nation.
Bradley's 18-4 record is the best mark in program history through 22 games and the Braves are 9-2 through 11 league games for the first time, currently sitting one game back of first-place Missouri State.
Brackmann finished a rebound short of her fourth double-double of the year, collecting 24 points to go with a game-high nine rebounds as she moved from 20th on Bradley's all-time scoring list into a tie with Dena Williams for 17th with 1,030 career points.
Petree knocked down four three-pointers and finished the night with 22 points of her own for her eighth 20-point game of the season (14th career). Junior Nyjah White joined the pair in double figures with 15 points and also collected six rebounds while dishing out a game-high seven assists. Petree has now hit a three-pointer in 19 consecutive games, which is the second longest streak in Bradley history behind Michelle Nason's school record of 30 consecutive games from the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.
Bradley nearly led wire-to-wire against the Crusaders, jumping out to a 10-3 lead a little over four minutes into the contest. Petree scored Bradley's first two baskets of the night and had seven points to help the Braves build a 16-6 advantage nearing the three-minute mark of the opening period. A Ryan Wilkins buzzer-beater to end the quarter gave BU a 20-13 lead.
Valparaiso managed to pull within one at 22-21 in the opening minutes of the second, before Bradley took control with an 11-2 spurt. Petree assisted a Brackmann hoop to start the run and followed a defensive stop with one of her four three-pointers.
White hit a shot in the lane after a Valpo turnover to give Bradley a 29-21 edge. Petree followed a pair of Valpo free throws with another triple and Brackmann split a pair of free throws with 3:39 to play in the half as Bradley built a 33-23 lead. The Braves extended the lead to as many as 13 points in the first half on a Petree three-point play and led 45-33 at the half.
A 10-0 Bradley run early in the third quarter pushed the advantage to 55-37. Brackmann and Petree each had five points during the spurt. The teams combined for 22 free throw attempts in the third quarter, with the Braves leading 67-54 at the end of the period.
Valparaiso cut the BU lead to single digits in the opening minute of the fourth, before an 8-0 Bradley run put the game out of reach. White took over during that stretch, scoring four points, assisting Bradley's other two hoops and tallying two boards and a block during a two-minute stretch which extended the lead to 75-58. A late 15-2 spurt, which included a pair of Mahri Petree three's helped the Braves to their largest lead of the night (90-65) in the eventual 90-69 victory.
Shay Frederick paced three Valparaiso players in double figures with 18 points. Bradley held the Crusaders to 36.2 percent shooting on the night, but Valpo made 27-of-31 free throw attempts.
Bradley closes out a two-game home stand Sunday with a 2 p.m. game against Loyola at Renaissance Coliseum. Sunday is the team's annual Play4Kay game with fans encouraged to wear pink to the contest and the first 300 fans will receive a free pink Bradley wristband