Women’s Basketball Heads To Evansville For Weekend Series

Women's Basketball 1/13/2021 1:39:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball puts a season-best three-game win streak on the line this weekend when the Braves hit the road for a two-game series at Evansville Friday and Saturday. Both games at Meeks Fieldhouse against the Purple Aces tip off at 6 p.m.

Coming off the first regular-season series sweep of Southern Illinois since 2012-13, Bradley (7-4 overall, 3-1 MVC) is tied with Northern Iowa and Drake for first place in the MVC standings heading into the weekend set at Evansville (4-5 overall, 0-4 MVC). One of five MVC teams in the top 100 of the latest NCAA NET rankings, Bradley has climbed to #87 through games of Jan. 12. The Braves have played six of 11 contests to date against top 100 teams.

Both games will be available on ESPN3 and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast for each contest of the series.

Bradley owns a seven-game win streak against Evansville, which is the longest win streak for either team in the all-time series that dates back to the 1994-95 campaign. Overall, the Braves hold a 35-20 advantage in the all-time series with the squads splitting 26 (13-13) games played in Evansville. Bradley has won the last three contests played at Meeks Fieldhouse. Owning a 3-1 road record under head coach Andrea Gorski, who is 8-1 all-time against the Purple Aces, Bradley is 8-4 in the last 12 road games played in the series.

Bradley is 3-1 or better to start Missouri Valley Conference play for the second straight year and third time in the last four seasons. This year's performance to date marks the eighth time the Braves have started league play 3-1 or better and Bradley has consecutive seasons with a 3-1 or better beginning to conference action for the first time since Andrea Gorski's sophomore (1989-90) and junior (1990-91) seasons. In fact, Gorski has been a player or coach of the Braves for six of the eight seasons in which Bradley has had a 3-1 or better start to conference play.

Bradley shot a blistering 63.8 percent from the field Saturday against Southern Illinois to complete the first regular-season season sweep of the Salukis since 2012-13. Turning in the seventh-best single-game field goal percentage in the nation this season, the Braves broke the Renaissance Coliseum field goal percentage record of 61.7 percent set in just the third game in the facility (vs. Saint Louis on Dec. 4, 2010). Bradley posted the fourth-best field goal percentage in school history and it was the team's most efficient effort from the field since shooting 64.4 percent at Evansville Jan. 21, 2018. The Braves shot 56 percent in the series against SIU and are 101-for-179 (56.4 percent) from the field over the last three home contests.

Junior guard Lasha Petree continued her meteoric climb up Bradley's all-time scoring list, collecting her third consecutive 20-point game in the series finale against Southern Illinois with a game-high 24 points. Petree, who has seven 20-point scoring efforts this year, passed former teammate Chelsea Brackmann on Bradley's all-time scoring list for 14th. Number 11 on BU's roster, Petree became just the fifth junior in Bradley history to reach 1,100 career points and currently has 1,111 points during her time as a Brave. In addition, she enters this weekend's series at Evansville with 111 career steals.

Senior Gabi Haack has knocked down at least one three-pointer in every game this season and has matched the longest streak of her career with at least one triple in 15 consecutive contests dating back to last season. Haack has joined Michelle Nason as the only Bradley players to have two streaks of 15 consecutive games with at least one three-point basket. The 15-game streak is tied for the sixth longest streak in program history. Junior Lasha Petree had a 23-game streak last year, which is the second longest stretch in school history.

Senior Nyjah White is averaging 4.5 assists per game in MVC contests, ranking second in the league. In fact, White has averaged 5.7 assists per outing over the last three games. Overall, she is second on the team and seventh in the MVC on the year in assists per game (3.3). The last time Bradley had two individuals average better than 3.0 assists per game in the same season was 2007-08. While the Braves have had 15 seasons in which two players averaged at least 3.0 assists per game (including all four years Andrea Gorski played at Bradley), it has happened just twice in the last 20 seasons (2007-08 & 2001-02). White had her highest scoring output in over two years with 20 points, five rebounds and seven assists in the series finale against Southern Illinois. It marked the first 20-5-7 outing for a Brave since White had career-highs of 23 points and eight assists to go with nine boards against Western Illinois Dec. 4, 2018.

The Braves follow up the weekend series at Evansville with a two-game home series against Loyola Jan. 22 & 23 at Renaissance Coliseum.

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