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Bradley University Athletics

Kristi Zeller

Kristi Zeller

Kristi Zeller is in her fifth season as an assistant coach with the Bradley Women’s Basketball team after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at Idaho. 

In her first four seasons on The Hilltop, Zeller has helped the Braves improve their overall win total each year culminating with the first back-to-back 20-win seasons in program history.

Bradley has produced six First-Team All-MVC selections over the last three years, after boasting just three in the 15 seasons prior to Zeller’s arrival.  In addition, Lasha Petree was named both the MVC Freshman & Sixth Player of the Year in 2018-19.

The 2019-20 season resulted in the Braves posting school records for overall (22) and MVC (13) victories in the season.  Bradley, which finished third in the Valley standings for the highest finish in program history, capped the shortened season with a 22-7 overall record.  For the first time in Bradley history the Braves boasted three First-Team All-MVC selections, with Chelsea Brackmann, Gabi Haack and Petree each earning the honor.

Highlighted by matching the longest win streak in program history (9), Bradley opened the 2018-19 campaign with a perfect 9-0 record and went on to post the most non-conference wins in school history (10-1).  The Braves went 10-8 in Valley play to finish fifth in the league standings, marking the team’s best league finish since 2009-10.

After a three-game improvement during Zeller’s first year with the Braves, Bradley went on to post a 13-18 overall record in 2017-18.  BU posted the lowest turnovers-per-game average in program history coupled with ranking as one of the top defensive units in the Missouri Valley Conference. 

The 2016-17 saw Leti Lerma, who was the program’s first First-Team All-MVC selection since 2008-09, become Bradley’s all-time leading rebounder as the Braves had a three-win improvement in the team’s overall and conference records. 

Zeller was an assistant coach at Idaho for the five seasons prior to coming to Bradley, where she has helped guide the Vandals to three NCAA Tournament appearances, a regular-season championship and three conference tournament titles during her tenure.

In 2015-16 season, Zeller helped Idaho to a 13-5 Big Sky Conference record, 24-10 overall mark and third NCAA Tournament appearance in four seasons.  Over the last four seasons, the Vandals were 80-50 (.615) overall which included a 47-23 (.671) record in conference play. 

During the 2013-14 season Zeller was part of a team which captured a Big Sky regular-season title (15-1) and finished 25-9 overall en route to the second of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.  That season, she helped mentor WBCA All-American and Big Sky Conference Player of the Year Stacey Barr. 

A Stow, Ohio, native, Zeller was a four-year letterwinner at Toledo and graduated summa cum laude in 2009 with a degree in social work.  She helped the Rockets to a pair of Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinal appearances during her collegiate career. 

Zeller served as a graduate assistant coach at her alma mater after graduation and was part of former Evansville head coach Tricia Cullop’s coaching staff with the Rockets for three seasons.  

A two-time Academic All-MAC selection, Zeller earned a master’s degree in liberal studies from Toledo in 2011.