ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Program records for overall (22) and Missouri Valley Conference (13) victories have led to another first for Bradley Women's Basketball, with a school record three Braves garnering First-Team All-MVC honors according to an announcement by the league office Wednesday morning.
Senior forward Chelsea Brackmann and junior guard Gabi Haack are both repeat First-Team All-MVC selections, while sophomore guard Lasha Petree joined the duo as a First-Team All-Valley pick after earning honorable recognition last year. In addition to the all-league honors, Brackmann and Petree were both named to the Valley's All-Defensive Team, while Mahri Petree was selected to the MVC's All-Freshman Team.
Brackmann and Haack are the fifth and sixth two-time, first-team all-conference honorees in program history, joining a list made up of Bradley Hall of Fame members Shelli Braud (1986-87 & 1987-88), Val Wancket (1989-90 & 1990-91), Tammy Van Oppen (1995-96 & 1996-97) and Sara Bailey (2000-01 & 2001-02). Brackmann is Bradley's third two-time MVC All-Defensive team pick with Sony Harris the last repeat selection in 2008-09 & 2009-10.
Bradley's three First-Team All-MVC picks surpassed the school record of two set just last season and matched regular-season league champion Missouri State for the most in 2019-20. The Braves also had a MVC All-Freshman team selection for the fourth consecutive year with Mahri Petree adding to the streak that includes her sister Lasha (2018-19), Haack (2017-18) and Brackmann (2016-17).
Brackmann is Bradley's all-time leading rebounder after breaking the school career record in mid-January and is currently tied for ninth in MVC history with 953 career rebounds. One of 10 national finalists for the Senior CLASS Award, she is second in the Valley in rebounding at 8.5 boards per game to go with 11.0 points per contest. Brackmann scored her 1,000th-career point in Bradley's win at I-74 rival Illinois State and is currently 14th in career scoring on The Hilltop with 1,108 points.
Brackmann was named MVC Player of the Week after averaging 22.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 75 percent from the field in home wins over Valparaiso and Loyola. She has a team-best five double-doubles on the year and 25 in her career, which is tied for second in Bradley history. Brackmann also ranks among the top six in Bradley history in career made free throws (6th - 294) and blocked shots (4th - 126). She has had a late-season surge in which she has averaged 14.6 points per game on 63 percent shooting over her last seven games. In Valley play, Brackmann averaged 12.3 points per game on 56.6 percent shooting.
On the defensive end, Brackmann is fifth in the MVC in blocks per game and ranks third on the squad with 27 steals. She ranks fourth in Bradley history with 126 career blocks, which is among the top 25 in league history. As a team, Bradley has only allowed only six opponents to reach the 70-point mark in 2019-20 and limited foes to a conference-best 62.1 points per outing. Teams have shot just 36.2 percent from the field (31st in the nation) against the Braves and 28.2 percent (36th nationally) from three-point range on the year.
Ranking 10th in the MVC in scoring this year at 13.3 points per game, Haack is 13th in the league in rebounding at 6.0 boards per outing. Her 69 made three-pointers this season are second-most in the MVC and match her career-high, which is the fifth-best total in Bradley history. One of eight players in the country with 69 made three-pointers, 175 rebounds and at least 65 assists, Haack is second in Bradley history with 206 career made three-pointers and heads into this week's MVC Tournament needing five three-pointers to break the Bradley career mark.
The ninth junior in school history to reach 1,000 career points and currently 11th all-time with 1,161 career points, Haack has six 20-point games this season and 16 in her career, while her 64 career games scoring in double digits is tied for the 10th-best total in school history. A career 83.9 percent free throw shooter, Haack broke the Bradley record for consecutive made free throws earlier this year by making 34 straight from the charity stripe.
Haack shot 38.2 percent from three-point range in Valley contests this year, while averaging 12.7 points and 2.3 assists per game with a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio in league contests. Owning a career-best four double-doubles this season, Haack helped highlight the home victory against defending MVC regular-season champion Drake with a season-high 25 points and career-high 12 rebounds. The 5-10 guard leads Bradley in offensive rebounding (2.0 per game) and is tied for fifth in the MVC in offensive boards per game.
Lasha Petree is Bradley's top scorer, ranking fourth in the MVC at 16.5 points per game. Scoring in double figures in 26 of 29 games this season, she has scored 20 or more in 10 outings, which is the most by a Brave since 2001-02 and her season-point total of 478 ranks ninth among Bradley season marks. Lasha was a three-time MVC Player of the Week pick this season and is the only player in program history to earn the Valley Player of the Week honors four times during their career.
The second sophomore in program history to reach 800 career points, Lasha topped the mark in 54 games to tie for the fourth fastest player in program history to 800 points. Currently fourth in the MVC with 67 made three-pointers she had a streak of 23 consecutive games with a made trey, which is the second-longest streak in program history. Lasha scored a career-best 36 points on 13-of-19 shooting in the home victory against Indiana State for the fourth-best single-game point total in Bradley history.
The only player in the country with 67 made three-pointers and at least 50 blocks, Lasha is the first player in Valley history to have that combination in MVC history and one of just four players in the nation over the last five years to do so. In fact, she is the first player in the MVC since Loyola's Troy Hambric in 2013-14 with 50 blocks and at least 45 steals, leading the league in blocked shots and ranking ninth in steals per game.
Mahri Petree has appeared in all 29 games this season as one of the team's reserves, averaging 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. She is shooting 34.7 percent from three-point range and has averaged 13.9 minutes per outing on the year. Mahri has scored in double figures twice this year, highlighted by a season-best 16 points in the first home game of her career.
Bradley finished a program-best third in the MVC standings and will face #6 seed Valparaiso Friday at 8:30 p.m. in Moline, Ill., in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals.
