Bradley Women's Basketball Heads to Minnesota Friday

The Braves will shoot for their second win against the Big Ten Conference Friday when they visit Minnesota

Gabi Haack starting lineup introductions at NIU

Women's Basketball 11/24/2021 8:43:00 AM

Game 5 \| Bradley Braves (3-1) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-3)
Date	Friday, Nov. 26, 2021
Time	3:00 p.m. CT
Location	Minneapolis, MN
Venue (Capacity)	Williams Arena (14,625)
Social Media	Twitter: @B radleyWBB \| Instagram: @bradley_wbb

For the second consecutive Friday, Bradley will play a Big Ten Conference team when the Braves visit Minnesota this week. Bradley earned a 64-57 home win against Wisconsin last Friday.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 Fifth-year senior guard Gabi Haack needs one more 3-pointer to become the third student-athlete (first female) in Missouri Valley Conference basketball history to sink 300 career 3-point field goals.
2 On the heels of last week's win against Wisconsin, Bradley is seeking its 2nd win versus a Power 5 team in the same season for the second time in program history (1994-95).
3 Friday's game at Minnesota will serve as a homecoming for three Braves - sophomore forward Tete Danso (Inver Grove Heights), fifth-year senior guard Gabi Haack (Elk River) and junior forward Sierra Morrow (Minneapolis).
4 Bradley has produced a 20-point scorer in each of the season's first four games and in nine consecutive games dating to last season.

SERIES HISTORY
6th Meeting • Minnesota leads, 3-2
• Friday's game will be the sixth all-time meeting in the series against the Golden Gophers, which dates to Minnesota's 77-69 victory Dec. 21, 1989 in Minneapolis.
• All five previous meetings have been played at home sites; the home team has won all five games and all in alternating fashion.
• The teams last met in the second round of the 2012 WBI, an 85-59 Minnesota victory March 8, 2012 at Williams Arena.
• Bradley's last series victory was a 56-49 win Dec. 4, 1999 at Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse.

ROAD TRIPPIN'
• After opening the season by sweeping a 3-game home stand, Bradley has begun an 11-game stretch that will see the Braves play nine games away from home.
• While the first three home games were played during the season's first 11 days, it will take until Bradley's fourth MVC game Jan. 13, a span of 55 days, before the Braves play three more home games.
• On the positive side, since the start of the 2018-19 season, Bradley has posted a 26-21 record away from home, including a 19-18 mark in true road games.

MINNESOTA HOMECOMING
• Friday's game at Minnesota will serve as a homecoming for three Bradley student-athletes:
Tete Danso, So., F., Inver Grove Heights (Simley HS)
Gabi Haack, 5Sr., G, Elk River (Elk River HS)
Sierra Morrow, Jr., F, Minneapolis, MN (Edison HS)
• There is a plethora of Haack info in this packet.
• A two-time JUCO All-American, Morrow is Bradley's early leader in rebounds (25) and blocked shots (7).
• Danso has appeared in 32 games, primarily as a reserve, in her first two seasons at Bradley.
• Haack's last competitive game in the Land of 10,000 Lakes was the 2017 Minnesota Class 4A state championship game at Williams Arena, when she scored 25 points on 8-of-9 field goal shooting to complete Elk River's 32-0 state championship season with a 64-60 win against Hopkins. SIDE NOTE: Hopkins' leading scorer was current UConn star Pagie Bueckers (19 points), who was the 2021 consensus college basketball player of the year after winning the Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year each of the three years after Haack in 2017.

ONE MORE B1G GAME
• Coming off Friday night's 64-57 home win against Wisconsin, Bradley will play a second game against the Big Ten when the Braves visit Minnesota.
• Bradley has beaten two Power 5 conference teams in the same season just once ... in 1994-95 when the Braves opened with an 83-78 win at Missouri and followed with a 74-55 home victory against Northwestern.
• The 2021-22 season marks the 12th time in Bradley Women's Basketball history the Braves have faced at least two B1G teams in the same season and the third time they have entered the final matchup with a chance for a second win against the league.

ALL-TIME EXCLUSIVE CLUB
• When fifth-year senior guard Gabi Haack makes her next 3-point field goal, she will become the only active player across all three NCAA divisions to accumulate 300 3-pointers, 300 free throws (362) and 700 rebounds (736).
• In fact, in the 36-year history of the college 3-point line, Haack will become just the ninth NCAA Division I women's basketball student-athlete to reach all three career thresholds.

NEWCOMERS PRODUCING
• To say Bradley's group of eight newcomers has been productive through the season's first four games would be an understatement.
• Led by freshman guard Caroline Waite, the eight newbies have combined to average 41.5 points, 17.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists through the first four games.
• Waite leads the newcomers by averaging 16.3 points, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game.
• Junior forward Sierra Morrow leads the Braves with 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game.
• As a group, the eight Bradley rookies lead The Valley in both newcomer scoring (41.5 ppg) and rebounding (17.5 rpg)

LOOKING AHEAD
• Following Friday's trip to Minnesota, the Braves will return home for the first of their two December home games, a Wednesday morning (11 a.m.) non-conference tip against Tulsa in the annual "Field Trip Game."
• Approximately 1,500 grade school students are expected to attend Wednesday morning's game.
• The Tulsa coaching staff includes first-year assistant coach Dodie Dunson, who graduated from Bradley in 2011 after earning Senior CLASS Award All-America honors in his senior year for the Braves men's basketball team in 2010-11.

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