PEORIA, Ill. -- After matching the best record at the halfway point of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule in program history at 7-2, Bradley Women's Basketball opens the second half of the league slate Friday when the Braves play at I-74 rival Illinois State.
Bradley (16-4 overall, 7-2 MVC) is tied with Drake for second in the MVC standings halfway through the Valley schedule to mark the highest the Braves have been in the standings nine games into the league slate. Illinois State (13-7 overall, 5-4 MVC) is in a three-way tie with Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois for fourth in the Valley standings, two games back of BU.
Fans attending Friday's 7 p.m. contest at Redbird Arena will receive free admission. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, while BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with a link to the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.
Friday's game concludes a season-long, three-game road swing, with Bradley trying to complete the regular-season sweep of the Redbirds. The Braves won the season's first meeting 76-61 at Renaissance Coliseum on Jan. 10. Bradley has won three of the last four meetings with Illinois State, including three consecutive regular-season contests after sweeping the regular-season series last year. The Braves have pulled out wins in their last two trips to Redbird Arena and have won four of the last six road games in the series.
Bradley continues what is arguably its toughest stretch of the schedule Friday at Illinois State. The Redbirds will be the eighth consecutive opponent with a winning record the Braves will have faced through games of Feb. 2. Starting with the first meeting with Illinois State on Jan. 10, Bradley will play 14 consecutive games against teams that are better than .500 on the season through Sunday's games with the group combining for a 191-92 (.675) record as of Feb. 2.
After the best start to MVC play in school history (7-0), the Braves are 7-2 at the midway point of the MVC slate for just the second time in program history. The 1989-90 team (7-2), which was head coach Andrea Gorski's sophomore year, is the only other Bradley team to start Valley play 7-2. Overall, the Braves are 16-4 through 20 games for the second time in school history with the 1981-82 squad the only other Bradley team to start a season 16-4. Bradley had never been higher than third in the conference standings at the halfway point of the league schedule prior to this year.
Bradley is trying to snap its first losing skid of 2019-20 after dropping games at #21/24 Missouri State and Southern Illinois last weekend. The Braves have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season and will be trying to avoid dropping three consecutive regular-season games since a four-game skid late in the 2017-18 campaign. Two of Bradley's four losses this season have come on the road at top-25 opponents and three of BU's last five regular-season setbacks have been against ranked teams dating back to a loss at #23 Drake to conclude the 2018-19 regular-season schedule.
If the past is any indicator, Bradley can expect to have a big second half of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule after a historic first-half of league play. The Braves have matched or surpassed their first half record in the second half of conference play in 16 of the last 17 years. During that stretch, the Braves have won more games the second half of MVC play vs. the first half 13 times. In fact, Bradley has a combined 20 more wins in the second half of league play than the first nine games over that 17-year stretch.
Junior Gabi Haack went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the first half of Friday's game at Missouri State to break Bradley's record for most consecutive free throws made. Haack connected on 34 straight free throws before a miss early in the second half Friday against the Bears to break the previous school record of 33 consecutive made throws by Genny Mueller between the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. The streak is the ninth longest in MVC history and was the longest in the Valley since Becca Hittner made 51 straight in 2017-18. After opening the season 22-for-31 (71 percent) from the charity stripe over the first nine games, Haack has made 37 of her last 38 free throws.
Sophomore Lasha Petree, who scored a game-high 24 points in the season's first meeting with Illinois State, has a lengthy streak of her own going, hitting a three-pointer in 17 consecutive games. Petree's streak of 17 straight games with a made three-pointer is the fourth longest in school history and is the longest streak by a Brave since Katie Yohn had 18 consecutive games with a triple in 2010-11. Michelle Nason is the lone Bradley player to have a streak longer than 18 games with a trey, hitting a three-pointer in 30 consecutive contests between the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.
After a 22-point effort against Illinois State back in January, senior Chelsea Brackmann is poised to become the 20th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. Brackmann has 994 career points entering Friday's game as she looks to join the 1,000-point club. Currently 19th in MVC history with 883 career rebounds, Brackmann moved into 10th in career made free throws at Bradley last week with 261 made free throws and is four made free throws from eighth all-time at BU.
Haack also has a chance to move up Bradley's career scoring list Friday. Currently 14th in Bradley history with 1,054 career points, she needs nine points to pass Michelle Young for 13th (1,062 points) on the BU scoring chart.
The Braves follow up Friday's road game at Illinois State by opening a two-game home stand Friday, Feb. 14 against Valparaiso at Renaissance Coliseum (7 p.m.).
