MOLINE, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball will make its first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinal appearance in over a decade after senior Gabi Haack scored a school-tournament record 25 points to help the Braves to a 62-59 MVC Tournament quarterfinal victory over #4 seed Northern Iowa Friday at the TaxSlayer Center.
Haack, who moved into third on Bradley's all-time scoring list, scored a game-high 25 points and also had a team-best seven rebounds to help the Braves to their first MVC Tournament semifinal game since 2009. Bradley will face #1 seed and nationally ranked (#17/21) Missouri State Saturday at 1 p.m. in Moline, Ill., in the semifinals.
Joining Haack in double figures was fellow senior Nyjah White, who added 12 points, six boards and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench.
Northern Iowa (14-12 overall) jumped in front early, using a 13-4 spurt to take an 18-11 lead with just under one minute to play in the first. A Mahri Petree layup in the closing seconds of the first cut the Panther lead to 18-11 and helped spark an 11-2 Bradley (15-11 overall) run.
Junior Tatum Koenig started the second quarter with a layup as the Braves held UNI to just one field goal over the first 6:50 of the period. After Northern Iowa got a basket from Bre Gunnels near the eight-minute mark, Bradley held UNI scoreless for the next five minutes. Petree had a basket with 5:40 to play in the half and Gabi Haack had a driving layup nearing the midway point of the period to cut the Panther lead to 20-17. A Petree three-pointer closing in on four minutes left in the first half tied it up at 20-20. UNI eventually took a 25-24 advantage into the halftime break.
Bradley got to the free throw line early in the third quarter, scoring all of its points from the free charity stripe during a 9-0 run that saw the Braves take a 33-28 lead with just over five minutes to play in the period. BU eventually extended the lead to six points on a White hoop in the closing seconds of the third, but had to settle for a 41-37 advantage heading to the fourth after a Karli Rucker three-pointer.
With the score knotted at 41-41 after two quick UNI baskets to open the fourth, Haack banked in a three-pointer from NBA range to put Bradley back in front and added a driving layup on BU's next possession to make it a five-point cushion (46-41).
The Panthers didn't go however, clawing back into it to take a 49-48 lead on a Rucker layup that capped an 8-2 UNI run.
Scoring 11 of her game-high 25 in the fourth quarter, Haack answered with a three-point play to put Bradley ahead (51-49) with just over four minutes remaining. Junior Lasha Petree had a steal and a driving layup to push the lead to four and Haack followed another defensive stop with a layup as the lead quickly went back to six (55-49) with 2:14 left.
Northern Iowa got a three-pointer only to have White respond with a hoop and Bradley's lead was seven (59-52) nearing the one-minute mark after a pair of Emily Marsh free throws. The Braves made their first 14 free throws in the game and were 3-for-4 from the line in the final 10 seconds to seal the 62-59 victory.
Haack, who scored in double figures for a Bradley record 86th career time, passed Connie Griffith (1,573 career points) for third on Bradley's all-time scoring list and now has 1,586 points during her time on The Hilltop. She broke the school tournament scoring mark as well, topping the previous record of 24 points shared by Raisa Taylor (March 14, 2009) and Sara Bailey (March 8, 2001).
White climbed into 24th in career scoring at Bradley, pushing her total to 963 career points.
Rucker scored 19 points to pace Northern Iowa, while Megan Maahs added a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Bradley will face Missouri State Saturday at 1 p.m. in the MVC Tournament semifinals on ESPN+.