Women’s Basketball Closes Regular Season On The Road

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 3/4/2020 10:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After putting the finishing touches on the most successful home record in program history, Bradley Women's Basketball will try to make it back-to-back seasons with a winning road record as the Braves close out the regular season this week with games at Indiana State (Thursday) and Evansville (Saturday).

Bradley (20-7 overall, 11-5 MVC) has already locked up the #3 seed for next week's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the highest seed in program history and the Braves wrapped up the home slate with a 12-1 record for the highest home winning percentage in school history. After a 7-6 road record last year, Bradley enters this week's contests with a 5-5 mark in true road games this season.

Thursday's game at Indiana State (5-23 overall, 3-13 MVC) will tip off at 6 p.m. (CST) and will be available on ESPN+, while Saturday's 1 p.m. contest at Evansville (3-24 overall, 0-16 MVC) can be viewed on ESPN3. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both games along with the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.

The Braves have won three consecutive games against the Sycamores after a 91-75 home win back on Jan. 5 behind a 36-point scoring effort from sophomore Lasha Petree in the season's first meeting. The win in January gave Bradley its first three-game win streak in the series since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 campaigns. Overall, Indiana State owns a 50-28 advantage in the all-time series, but Bradley has won four of the last six meetings. The Braves posted a 61-45 win in Terre Haute, Ind., last year to snap a 21-game road losing streak in the series. The Sycamores hold a 29-8 lead in games played in Terre Haute.

Bradley claimed the season's first meeting with Evansville 82-51 in the conference opener for both teams and the Braves have won six consecutive games against the Purple Aces. Overall, Bradley owns a 34-20 lead in the all-time series, winning eight of the last nine meetings. Evansville holds a slim 13-12 advantage in meetings in Evansville, Ind., but the Braves have won four of the last seven road games and seven of the last 11 played in Evansville.

Bradley wraps up the regular season on the road for the second consecutive year and the Braves will be closing the road schedule in a state other than Illinois or Iowa for the first time since finishing the 2011-12 regular season at Missouri State. That 2011-12 campaign is also the last time the Braves finished the regular season with a road victory. While Bradley has played its last road game of the year in the state of Indiana several times over the last few years (last in 2013-14), the Braves will play their last regular-season game of the year in the Hoosier state for first time going back to 1998-99, which is the only time BU has finished the regular-season state in Indiana.

For the first time in program history Bradley has back-to-back 20-win seasons with the Braves picking up win #20 last Thursday against Southern Illinois. With a 20-7 overall record, Bradley is one victory from matching the highest season win total in program history set by the 2008-09 squad (21-10 overall). The 40 wins over the last two years are the most in a two-year stretch in program history, surpassing the 39 wins during the 1979-80 (20) and 1980-81 (19) teams. With at least three games remaining, the Braves need one more victory to become the first team in Missouri Valley Conference history to post an improved overall win total in five consecutive seasons.

With an 11-5 record in Valley play, BU is one league win from matching the school record of 12 conference victories last reached by the 2009-10 (T3rd) squad. Bradley's highest MVC finish has been a tie for third, which has been done twice (2009-10 & 1991-92), but the Braves had never been better than the #4 seed in the league tournament prior to this season. This year's Bradley team is the sixth in program history to win at least 11 conference games, with head coach Andrea Gorski a part of two of those teams as a student-athlete (1989-90 and 1991-92).

Bradley finished the year with a 12-1 home record, with the lone loss Sunday's three-point setback to league-leading Missouri State. The loss snapped an 18-game home win streak, which was the longest in the MVC since Drake won 21 consecutive home contests between the 2015-16 and 2017-18 seasons. The Braves tied the school record for home wins in a season and had the highest home winning percentage in school history, surpassing a .900 (9-1) home win percentage from 1979-80. Bradley's 24 home wins (24-4) over the last two years are more than the Braves had at Renaissance Coliseum in the four years prior to the 2018-19 season (22). Bradley ranks fifth in the MVC in average attendance (1,074) with the Braves drawing their largest on-campus average (excludes games at Carver Arena) since 2004-05.

After the weekend road trip, Bradley heads to Moline, Ill., for the 2020 MVC Tournament, which begins Thursday, March 12. The Braves will play in the 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal on Friday, March 13.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Lasha Petree: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#11 Lasha Petree
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: G

Women’s Basketball Closes Regular Season On The Road

Players Mentioned

#11 Lasha Petree

Players Mentioned

#11 Lasha Petree