Loyola Chicago LUC 11-13,8-10 MVC

Bradley BRAD 16-11,10-8 MVC

Loyola Chicago LUC

11-13,8-10 MVC

Final

Mar. 13, 2021

Bradley BRAD

16-11,10-8 MVC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Loyola Chicago LUC	17	11	11	17	56
Bradley BRAD	20	15	14	21	70

Box Score

Braves Shoot Way To MVC Finals With 70-56 Win Over Loyola

Box Score

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 3/13/2021 9:17:00 PM

MOLINE, Ill. – Junior Lasha Petree connected on four of six three-pointers and Bradley Women's Basketball tied a school Missouri Valley Conference Tournament record with 12 triples as the Braves earned their first tournament championship game appearance in program history with a 70-56 victory over #6 seed Loyola Saturday night at the TaxSlayer Center.

Bradley was originally scheduled to play #1 seed Missouri State in a 1 p.m. semifinal game, but Saturday's semifinal schedule had to be adjusted after MSU withdrew from the remainder of the tournament. Using the MVC's re-seeding policies that were approved in advance of the tournament by the league's athletics directors, #2 seed Drake advanced to Saturday's championship game with the Braves left to take on #6 seed Loyola in a 6 p.m. contest. Bradley and Drake will play for the league title and the Valley's automatic bid Sunday at 4 p.m.

Petree posted her 12^th-point game of the year, scoring 16 of her 24 points in the second half as she connected on 8-of-10 from the field. Four Bradley players scored in double figures, with Gabi Haack following up her Bradley MVC Tournament record 25-point performance from Friday with 16 points. Junior Tatum Koenig added 11 points and sophomore Mahri Petree had 10 points.

Bradley matched its school record for three-pointers in a Valley Tournament game of 12 originally set at Missouri State on March 9, 2006 with the Braves knocking down 12-of-24 three's in the victory. BU, which was playing in its first MVC Tournament semifinal since 2009, reached its first MVC Championship game after five previous trips to the semifinals.

On to the title game! pic.twitter.com/JsUebJvWRM
— Bradley WBB (@BradleyWBB) March 14, 2021

Haack picked up where she left off in Friday's quarterfinal victory by scoring 10 points in the first period. She capped the period with a buzzer-beating triple from NBA range to give the Braves a 20-17 lead after the opening 10 minutes.

Lasha Petree knocked down a pair of three-pointers during the second quarter and a corner trey by Koenig gave the Braves their largest lead of the first half at 31-24 closing in on two minutes to play in the period. The teams traded baskets down the stretch with Bradley holding a 35-28 lead at the break.

Lasha Petree scored Bradley's first six points of the third quarter as BU pushed the lead to nine (41-32) in the opening minutes of the second half. The Petree sisters combined to score all 14 of Bradley's third-quarter points with Lasha scoring 10. The sisters both hit three's during a 9-2 BU spurt that gave the Braves a 44-32 edge midway through the third.

The Petree show continued into the fourth quarter with Mahri hitting a three-pointer with 8:29 to play as the BU lead stood at 52-39 early in the period.

Bradley extended the lead to as many 17 (58-41) on a hoop by Lasha with 5:23 and Loyola got no closer than eight down the stretch as the Braves cruised to the 70-56 win.

Haack scored her 1,600^th career point in the victory and also tied the Bradley record for consecutive starts with the 107^th as a Brave.

Bradley and Drake will play Sunday at 4 p.m. in the MVC Championship game.