Women’s Basketball Hosts Loyola Sunday In Play4Kay Game

Josh Schwam

Women's Basketball 2/15/2020 2:21:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball closes out a two-game home stand with its annual Play4Kay game, hosting Loyola in a 2 p.m. contest Sunday at Renaissance Coliseum as the Braves look to hold on to second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

A 90-69 win over Valparaiso Friday kept Bradley (18-4 overall, 9-2 MVC) alone in second in the Valley standings, one-half game ahead of third-place Drake, which plays at Indiana State Saturday afternoon. The Braves are one game behind first-place Missouri State in the league standings through Friday's action.

Loyola (15-8 overall, 6-6 MVC) sits in a tie for fifth in standings following an 86-85 double overtime loss at Illinois State Friday. Bradley is trying to complete the regular-season sweep of the Ramblers, winning the season's first meeting 60-47 in Chicago last month.

Sunday's game is Bradley's annual Play4Kay game with fans encouraged to wear pink to the contest. In addition, fans can sign up for the Coach G Play4Kay Challenge, with participants pledging for each made free throw by the Braves during the month of February (flat donations also accepted). Proceeds will benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Visit https://pledgeit.org/bradley-play4kay to make your pledge. The first 300 fans will receive a free pink Bradley wristband.

The game will be available on ESPN3 and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.

Bradley leads the all-time series with Loyola 26-16, which includes a 13-5 edge in games played in Peoria. Overall, the Braves have won three consecutive games against the Ramblers and seven of the last eight meetings, with the lone loss during that stretch coming at Renaissance Coliseum. Bradley is trying to sweep the regular-season series for the fourth time in the last six years and is 9-6 vs. Loyola since the Ramblers joined the MVC for the 2013-14 season.

Bradley continues to hold on to second in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, improving to 18-4 overall and 9-2 in Valley play with Friday's 90-69 victory over Valparaiso. The Braves are 38-14 since the start of the 2018-19, which mark the most wins in a two-year stretch for the Braves since 2008-09 (21) and 2009-10 (17). The school record for wins over a two-year span is 39 during the 1979-80 (20) and 1980-81 (19) seasons. A victory Sunday would give Bradley 10 or more MVC wins in back-to-back seasons for just the third time. The last occurrence was 2008-09 (11) and 2009-10 (12) with the other during the 1985-86 (11) and 1986-87 (10).
Friday's victory against Valpo was fourth-year head coach Andrea Gorski's 63^rd win at her alma mater. She joins Jan Winkler as the only Bradley coaches to win 63 games in their first four years. Winkler owned a 63-31 mark in her four years on The Hilltop from 1977-78 through the 1980-81 season. BU's 63 wins over the last four years are the most since collecting 64 wins between the 2009-10 and 2012-13 campaigns.
Senior Chelsea Brackmann scored a season-best 24 points Friday against Valparaiso, finishing a rebound short of her fourth double-double of the year. The most impressive part about Brackmann's performance, however, was her 9-for-10 shooting. Brackmann was just the sixth Bradley player to shoot 90 percent or better in a game (minimum 10 attempts) and the first to do so since Amy Peters was 9-for-10 from the field in a game at Southern Illinois on Jan. 7, 2006. Missouri State's Jasmine Franklin is the only Valley player to have a better shooting night this season (minimum 10 attempts), going 11-for-12 from the field against Kansas City on Dec. 1, 2019.
For the second consecutive game, sophomore Lasha Petree hit four three-pointers and finished with 22 points as she collected her eighth 20-point game of the season. Petree, who also added four assists, three blocks and two steals Friday against Valparaiso, is the first Bradley player with eight 20-point games in a season since Michelle Young had eight in 2013-14. In fact, Petree has 14 career 20-points games in her near two years on The Hiltop. Junior Gabi Haack is 10^th in Bradley history with 15 career 20-point games.
Junior Nyjah White turned in a solid all-around performance Friday against Valparaiso, finishing with 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists in just 22 minutes of action. While it was the first time this season White had at least 15 points, six boards and dished out at least seven assists, it was her third such outing in her career reaching those marks in the same game. Prior to White, the last Bradley player to have a 15-6-7 line was Kelsey Budd against Lipscomb on Dec. 20, 2013 and there had just been three such performances by Braves over the 17 years before White's first last year against Western Illinois. In fact, White is the first Bradley player to have multiple career games of at least 15 points, six rebounds and seven or more assists since Tammy Van Oppen had three such performances between the 1996-97 and 1995-96 seasons.
Chelsea Brackmann continues to move up Bradley's career scoring list, moving into a tie with Dena Williams (2001-05) for 17^th in career scoring at Bradley at 1,030 career points. Brackmann needs three points to pass Devyn Flanagan for 16^th and is 19 points from overtaking Val Wancket for 15^th in school history. Not to be outdone, sophomore Lasha Petree now has 775 career points to rank 39^th and is 25 points from joining Judy Burns as the only Bradley sophomore to reach 800 career points.
Bradley's home win streak now sits at 16 consecutive games, which is tied for the fifth longest streak in the nation. The Braves are now 22-3 at Renaissance Coliseum over the last two seasons with one of those losses in overtime. The 22 home wins over that stretch are the most in a two-year period in Bradley history. The last time the Braves won as many as 21 home games during a two-year span was 2008-09 and 2009-10 (21-5). BU's 22 home wins during 2018-19 and 2019-20 is equal to the four years combined leading into that stretch (22-35).
Sophomore Lasha Petree's four three-pointers Friday stretched her streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer to 19 games for the second longest streak in Bradley history. Only Michelle Nason has had a longer streak of consecutive games with a triple, going 30 games between the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. Leading the MVC with 58 three-pointers this year, Petree's total is now tied for the ninth-best single-season mark in Bradley history. She also ranks eighth in BU history with 114 career trey's.