Hoops in the Heartland | First Round

Bradley will take on Drake in the first round of the 2022 MVC Women's Basketball Championship Thursday night

Josh Schwam

Women's Basketball 3/8/2022 8:04:00 AM

2022 Hoops in the Heartland MVC Women's Basketball Championship
Game 28 \| #10 Seed Bradley Braves (4-23, 1-17 MVC) vs. #7 Seed Drake Bulldogs (17-12, 9-9 MVC)
Date	Thursday, March 10, 2022
Time	7:00 p.m. CT
Location	Moline, IL
Venue (Capacity)	TaxSlayer Center (12,000)
Social Media	Twitter: @B radleyWBB \| Instagram: @bradley_wbb

In a matchup of the 2021 title game won by the Braves, 78-70, No. 10 seed Bradley will take on No. 7 seed Drake in the first round of the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Championship Thursday night at TaxSlayer Center. Drake swept the 2021-22 regular-season series, but Bradley knocked 18 points off the final margin in the second meeting Feb. 27 in Des Moines, where the Braves led by four, 63-59, with 6:02 left.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 - Freshman guard Caroline Waite enters the MVC Tournament leading all MVC underclassmen in scoring (13.1 ppg) and all league student-athletes in 3FGM/gm (2.88).
2 - Senior guard Tatum Koenig needs just two assists for Bradley's first season of 300 points (326) and 100 assists (98) since Kelsey Budd (313, 114) in 2013-14.
2 - Two Bradley student-athletes, junior forward Sierra Morrow (40 bs, 38 to) and sophomore forward Tete Danso (27, 26), enter the MVC Tournament with more blocked shots than turnovers.
17 - Bradley has utilized 17 different starting lineups this season, the most of any team in the nation this year.

MVC TOURNEY HISTORY
26th Tourney Appearance • 11-24 • 2021 Champion
• Bradley enters its 26th MVC Women's Basketball Championship tournament as the defending champion, earning its first Valley title in 2021 by downing UNI (62-59), Loyola Chicago (70-56) and Drake (78-70) last year.
• Although the Braves are 11-24 (.314) all-time in 35 MVC Tournament games, Bradley has won at least one postseason game in four of the last five MVC Tournaments, posting a 6-4 record in the five tourneys played in TaxSlayer Center.
• Making her fifth Hoops in the Heartland appearance, Andrea Gorski owns a 5-3 MVC postseason coaching record.

SERIES NOTES
83rd Meeting • Drake leads, 64-18
• Thursday's second first-round game will mark the 83rd meeting in the all-time series between Bradley and Drake, which dates back to the formation of the Gateway Conference for the 1983-84 season.
• Thursday's Bradley-Drake matchup will be the only meeting of original Gateway Conference members of the four known matchups at Hoops in the Heartland.
• Drake owns a 64-18 lead in the all-time series, including a 3-1 advantage in the MVC Tournament.
• Including last year's Bradley win in the MVC Tournament championship game, Thursday's matchup will be the sixth series meeting outside of Peoria in the last seven games between the Braves and Bulldogs
• In her sixth season as Bradley head coach, Andrea Gorski owns a 3-10 coaching record against Drake, including a 1-0 postseason record versus the Bulldogs.

SERIES NEWBIES
• Bradley's 12-player active roster includes just six student-athletes who had appeared in a game against Drake before this season.
• Senior guard Tatum Koenig has played in nine games against the Bulldogs, scoring 115 points (12.8 ppg) in 318 cumulative minutes.
• The other 11 Bradley student-athletes available Thursday night have combined for 28 individual games against Drake, totaling 91 points.
• With Koenig, Bradley's cumulative series numbers are 37 individual games, 700 minutes, 206 points, 85 rebounds and 42 assists against the Bulldogs.
• On the other side, Drake's roster includes 13 student-athletes who have played a combined 51 individual games against Bradley, accumulating 304 points in 881 minutes.

THE HAWKEYE FIVE
• Bradley's roster includes five student-athletes from the state of Iowa.
• In league play, Bradley's top four point producers all came from the quintet of Iowans:
Student-Athlete (Yr. • Pos.) Iowa Hometown MVC Pts Team Rk
Tatum Koenig (Sr. • G) West Branch 263   1
Caroline Waite (Fr. • G) Ames 221   2
Abbie Draper (Fr. • G/F) Waverly 113   3
Chloe Rice (Sr. • G) Marion 110   4
Sasha Koenig (Fr. • G) West Branch 2

EXPERIENCE FACTOR
• Fifth-year senior Gabi Haack, the all-time leading scorer and 3-point shooter in program history, saw her season come to an end Jan. 1 at Illinois State when she suffered a torn ACL in her left knee with 6:00 remaining.
• With Haack no longer available, senior guard Tatum Koenig stands as Bradley's most-experienced player and the team's active leader in most every career category.
• With three more Braves - junior guard Diamond Cannon, freshman guard Nika Dorsey and sophomore forward Daija Powell - also out for the remainder of the year due to injury, Bradley's 12-player active roster includes nine first-year (6) and second-year (3) Braves.
• While Koenig ranks fourth in Bradley history with 3518 career minutes, the other 11 student-athletes on the active roster have combined for 90 starts in 371 individual games played (33.7 games per player) at BU.
• Including Koenig, Bradley's 12 active student-athletes have combined to log 8,572 career minutes of NCAA Division I basketball.
• Indiana State's roster is the second most-inexperienced unit in The Valley with 12,368 collective minutes played at the D1 level, while Thursday opponent Drake boasts 13 student-athletes with 16,644 minutes - more than 6,000 more minutes than the Braves.
Charting the Experience Factor
NCAA Division I At Institution
                  S/A's GP GS MINUTES Points |   GP   GS Minutes Points
BRADLEY 12 539 189 8,572 2,161 | 486   188 8,104 2,061
Indiana State 11 599 295 12,368 3,838 |  501   263 10,435 3,294
Drake 13 834 332 14,644 4,780 |  813   333 14,593 4,762
Valparaiso 15 736 298 14,779 4,546 |  569   256 11,810 3,604
Evansville 13 734 403 15,631 4,661 |  620   340 13,314 4,019
Missouri State 11 759 409 16,225 5,466 |  594   316 12,631 4,006
Southern Illinois 14 867 444 17,163 5,772 |  867   444 17,163 5,772
Illinois State 14 849 394 17,501 5,965 |  738 299 13,513 4,588
UNI 15 1,062 438 18,249 6,344 | 1,062 438 18,249 6,344
Loyola Chicago 15 1,025 493 19,723 5,606 |  824 359 15,194 4,665

FLIP OF THE CALENDAR, FLIP OF THE SWITCH
• Since the calendar flipped to 2022, Bradley senior point guard Tatum Koenig has turned into a scoring machine for the Braves.
• Koenig had averaged 6.7 points per game with 19 double-digit scoring efforts in her first 97 career games.
• In the 18 games since the calendar flipped to 2022, however, Koenig has scored in double figures 15 times and was The Valley's fifth-leading scorer in league play at 14.6 ppg.
• Heading into the Jan. 1 game at Illinois State, Koenig ranked 39th among The Valley's 2021-22 scoring leaders at 7.0 points per game.
• Entering the MVC Tournament, Koenig has climbed 25 spots to 14th at 12.1 ppg (has been as high as 12th).
Bradley History
Student-Athlete Year Non-Con Conf. Jump
TATUM KOENIG '21-22 7.0 14.6 +7.6
Kathy Eshoo '83-84 4.6 11.1 +6.5
Ashley Chelleen '02-03 5.3 11.9 +6.3
Va'Nicia Waterman '02-03 3.2 9.0 +5.8

2021-22 MVC Student-Athletes
Student-Athlete, School Non-Con MVC Jump
TATUM KOENIG, BU 7.0 14.6 +7.6
Abigayle Jackson, MSU 8.2 15.4 +7.2
Olivia Brown, VU 2.5 9.5   +7.0
Kate Bullman, ILS 1.6 6.1 +4.5
Natalia Lalic, INS 5.5 9.8 +4.3
ABBIE DRAPER, BU 3.2 7.1 +3.9
Isabelle Delarue, MSU 1.2 4.9 +3.7

CHASING COACH G
• Senior guard Tatum Koenig ranks fifth in program history with 359 career assists and ninth with 142 career 3-point field goals.
• Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski, who was a Hall-of-Fame guard for the Braves from 1988-92, is immediately ahead of Koenig on both lists - fourth with 360 assists and eighth with 149 treys.

300-100
• Senior guard Tatum Koenig enters Thursday's MVC Tournament first-round game versus Drake with 326 points and 98 assists on the season.
• Bradley has not had a 300-point scorer also reach triple digits in assists since Kelsey Budd (313 points, 114 assists) in 2013-14.
• If Koenig reaches 100 assists, she will be the highest scoring Brave to hit triple digits in helpers since Raisa Taylor (110 assists) scored 393 points in 2010-11.
• While the 300-100 thresholds were jointly reached 10 times by eight Bradley student-athletes in the 16 seasons from 1981-97, Koenig is trying to join Budd and Taylor as the only Braves to hit both marks in the same season in the quarter-century since Tammy van Oppen (435 points, 141 assists) in 1996-97.

FRESHMAN SCORER
• With fifth-year senior Gabi Haack no longer available due to her season-ending knee injury, freshman guard Caroline Waite leads the team at 13.1 points per game.
• Waite's norm through her 24 games represents the fourth-best scoring average ever by a Bradley freshman and the second-best since Judy Burns poured in 18.1 ppg 40 years ago in 1981-82.
• The top scoring underclassman (Fr/So) in The Valley, Waite is the league's seventh-leading scorer overall, the best position by a freshman since 2013-14, when Evansville's Sara Dickey (17.6) was second.
• No other underclassman ranks among the top 22 top scorers in The Valley.
• Loyola sophomore Maya Chandler is 23rd at 10.6 ppg and Drake's Katie Dinnebier is the league's second-leading freshman scorer, ranking 27th overall at 9.0 ppg.
• Ironically, Haack (10.5 ppg in 2017-18) was the last of four Bradley freshmen to lead the Braves in season scoring average.
BRADLEY FRESHMAN SCORING AVERAGES
1. 18.3 Connie Griffith 1977-79
2. 18.1 Judy Burns 1981-82
3. 13.2 Lasha Petree 2018-19
4. 13.1 CAROLINE WAITE 2021-22
5. 12.8 Kathy Stokes 1977-78
6. 12.6 Heather Best 1995-96
7. 12.3 Karen Anderson 1979-80
8. 12.0 Karin Nichols 1986-87

BRADLEY FRESHMAN TEAM SCORING LEADERS
2021-22 Caroline Waite   13.1 ppg
2017-18 Gabi Haack    10.5
2009-10 Katie Yohn    10.2
1977-78 Connie Griffith 18.3
1975-76 Lynn Held 12.4

YEAR-BY-YEAR TOP-SCORING MVC FRESHMEN
Season Student-Athlete, School PPG Rk.
2021-22 CAROLINE WAITE, BRADLEY 13.1 7th
2020-21 None among top 30
2019-20 Abby Feit, Evansville 13.7 9th
2018-19 Lasha Petree, Bradley 13.2 10th
2017-18 Gabi Haack, Bradley 10.5 15th
2016-17 Becca Hittner, Drake 12.4 9th
2015-16 Sara Rhine, Drake 13.3 12th
2014-15 Maddy Dean, Drake 13.6 11th
2013-14 Sara Dickey, Evansville 17.6 2nd
2012-13 Marissa Janning, Creighton 12.6 12th

FRESHMAN SHOOTER
• Bradley's Caroline Waite leads The Valley and ranks 12th nationally by averaging 2.88 3FGM/Game.
• Waite ranks second among all freshmen nationally in 3-point field goals per game (Duquesne's Tess Myers is first at 3.10 3FGM/gm).
• Waite needs one triple to become the fifth student-athlete in Bradley history to make as many as 70 3-point field goals in a season (Michelle Nason twice made at least 70 3-pointers) and she currently sits six behind Michelle Lund's 2008-09 freshman record.
BRADLEY 3-POINT FIELD GOALS IN A SEASON
1. 87 Michelle Nason Sr. 1994-95
2. 78 Erika Nelson Sr. 2006-07
3. 77 Gabi Haack Sr. 2020-21
4. 75 Michelle Lund Fr. 2008-09
5. 71 Michelle Nason Jr. 1993-94
6. 69 Caroline Waite Fr. 2021-22
   69 Gabi Haack Jr. 2019-20
69 Gabi Haack So. 2018-19
9. 68 Gabi Haack Fr. 2017-18
  Lasha Petree So. 2019-20

FROM THE STRIPE
• While Bradley is ninth in The Valley by shooting 71.7 percent from the free throw line in league play (that in and of itself is a note), the team's top four at getting to the line are shooting with impressive efficiency.
• In league play, the quartet of Caroline Waite (.867), Tatum Koenig (.835), Chloe Rice (.750) and Abbie Draper (.737) were Bradley's four most-frequent visitors to the line, where they were a combined 159-of-199 (.799).
• In her seven non-conference games, Waite was just 5-of-9 (.556) from the charity stripe, but since league play began, she has made 26-of-30 attempts.
• Through the first 97 games of her career, senior guard Tatum Koenig was a 69.8 percent free throw shooter who had averaged 1.8 FTA per game.
• In Bradley's 18 Valley games this season, Koenig was 66-of-79 from the stripe and her 79 attempts (4.4/gm) were second among the league's top 10 free throw percentage shooters (Juliunn Redmond, 91) in MVC play.
• Freshman forward Abbie Draper (1-3) and senior guard Chloe Rice (3-5) were a combined 4-of-8 from the free throw line in Bradley's nine non-conference games, but combined to make 67-of-90 (.744) charity attempts in league play.
2021-22. Non-Con Pct. FTA/g MVC Pct. FTA/g
Tatum Koenig 13-20 .650 2.2 66-79 .835 4.4
Chloe Rice 3-5 .600 0.6 39-52 .750 3.1
Abbie Draper 1-3 .333 0.3 28-38 .737 2.4
Caroline Waite 5-8 .556 1.3 26-30 .867 1.8

LOOKING AHEAD
• The winner of Thursday's matchup between the Braves and Bulldogs will take on No. 2 seed Missouri State in Friday's (6:00 pm) third quarterfinal game at the MVC Women's Basketball Championship.

Print Friendly Version