Women’s Basketball Faces Northern Iowa In MVC Quarterfinals

Women's Basketball 3/10/2021 1:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball wrapped up fifth place in the regular-season Missouri Valley Conference standings with a sweep of Indiana State last week and the Braves now turn their attention toward the 2020-21 MVC Tournament at the TaxSlayer Center where they will face #4 seed Northern Iowa Friday in a 2 p.m. quarterfinal.

The teams were separated by one game in the final Valley standings and split the regular season series. Bradley (14-11 overall, 10-8 MVC) finished fifth overall after a pair of convincing home wins over Indiana State to close out the regular-season schedule, while Northern Iowa (14-11 overall, 11-7 MVC) has won four straight heading into the MVC Tournament.

All games of the MVC Tournament will be available on ESPN+ and BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM radio broadcast.

The tournament will be operated under the current Restore Illinois guidelines which limits indoor spectators to 50 people. Parents/immediate family will be admitted by pass lists provided by participating institutions and will be required to wear a mask at all times except when seated and actively eating or drinking in designated seats. No food or beverages can be consumed on the concourse or anywhere other than in one's seat.

The Panthers edged the Braves 73-72 on a last second three-pointer in the season's first meeting and Bradley took the rematch the next night 78-63 at Renaissance Coliseum. UNI holds a 45-36 lead in the all-time series with the teams splitting the regular-season series each of the last two seasons. Bradley is 0-5 against the Panthers in the MVC Tournament all-time with all five previous tournament matchups in the quarterfinals. Two of those tournament meetings have come in Moline, Ill., (2017 & 2016) and four of the five have been in the last 12 years.

The Braves head into the Valley Tournament off of back-to-back wins for the first time since 2011-12. BU did win the final two regular season games of 2019-20 before the MVC Tournament was cancelled. The last time Bradley had consecutive regular-season wins leading into the quarterfinals was 2009-10 when the Braves faced Northern Iowa. Despite a loss to the Panthers in the 2010 quarterfinals, that 2009-10 squad went on to play in the inaugural WBI and topped Louisville on the road in the opening round for the first post-season appearance in program history.

Seniors Nyjah White and Gabi Haack along with junior Lasha Petree each had 20+ point scoring efforts against Northern Iowa this year and several Braves have had success against the Panthers in their career. White converted five three-point plays in the last meeting with UNI, scoring a career-best 29 points in the Feb. 13 victory. Over the last two seasons, she has averaged 15.5 points and 9.0 rebounds and had three double-doubles in the four meetings with UNI. Haack, who had 21 points in the Feb. 13 game, has dished out 23 assists with just six turnovers in eight career games vs. UNI. Petree scored 25 in the season's first matchup with Northern Iowa and is averaging nearly two blocks per game in six career games in the series.

Not to be outdone, West Branch, Iowa, native Tatum Koenig has averaged 9.0 points per game while shooting 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from three-point range in her career against Northern Iowa, to go with a 7.00 assist-to-turnover ratio (3.5 assists per game). Koenig has averaged 11.4 points per game in her last eight contests against teams from the state of Iowa, while shooting a blistering 58 percent (19-for-33) from three-point range in those matchups.

Last weekend's sweep of Indiana State gave Bradley 10 or more wins in Valley play for the third consecutive year, marking the first time in program history the Braves have won 10 or more league games in three consecutive seasons. In fact, Bradley has won 39 MVC games over the last four years to give this year's senior class the most conference wins in school history. The previous school record for league wins in a four-year stretch was Andrea Gorski's senior class (1991-92) that went a combined 38-34 in Gateway Conference action. Overall, the Braves have won 69 games over the last four years and look to join the 2011-12 (71) and 1982-83 (72) senior classes as the only groups in Bradley history to collect 70 overall victories. In addition, this year's fifth-place finish marked the first time since head coach Andrea Gorski's final three years as a student-athlete at BU (1989-92) that the Braves had three consecutive top-half league finishes.

The winner of Friday's matchup between Bradley and Northern Iowa will advance to Saturday's 1 p.m. semifinal to face either #1 seed Missouri State or the winner of Thursday's opening round game that features #8 Southern Illinois and #9 Indiana State.

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