Over break, the Bradley women’s basketball team excelled on the road and were only narrowly beaten at home. Coming into a season-long home stand beginning tonight, their overall record stands at 10-8 and 4-3 in conference.
The Braves have surpassed their road win total from last year and are 5-2 in their last seven road contests. Head coach Andrea Gorski said she is proud of the team’s consistency on the road.
“We don’t really feel there is a difference in playing on the road or at home,” Gorski said. “We try to enter each game with the same mentality.”
Gorski said she knows this mentality has translated well on the defensively.
“We always emphasize the defensive side of the ball,” Gorski said. “We try to take away the other team’s strengths and go to sets. We feel our newcomers have improved a great deal on the defensive end, and we look for consistent improvement in this area.”
One of these newcomers is freshman guard Gabi Haack, who said she has learned that defense wins championships, and that offense is a result of steady defense.
“We always have control over how hard we go on defense and how high our energy is,” Haack said. “Our focus on defense the rest of conference play is crucial if we want to have success.”
Gorski said she has enjoyed seeing Haack grow into more of a leader, and has placed her in the starting lineup.
“We knew she was good, but she has really picked it up,” Gorski said. “Gabi is fearless, and her teammates are starting to look for her more each game. We always knew Gabi could shoot the lights out, but we have been pleasantly surprised at how physical she can play. She has become one of our most consistent rebounders.”
Haack is the only player in the conference that is in the top-10 for both 3-point field goal percentage and rebounding. This past Sunday, the Braves travelled to Evansville and Haack finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists in just 21 minutes.
Bradley charged off the bus and scored the first 29 points of the contest holding Evansville, scoreless for the first 7:12 of the game. After one quarter of action, the Braves had a commanding 39-7 lead and a 75 percent field goal percentage.
As expected, the Braves cooled off a bit from their first half dominance but still finished with a 64.4 percent mark from the field for the game, and the third-best scoring output in school history. When the final buzzer sounded, the Braves led by 58 points, and the score was 117-59.
“Everyone on the floor has the capability to score. We have both a strong inside game and great shooters around the arc,” Gorski said. “Our ball movement has improved tremendously since conference play started.”
According to Gorski, she believes the team’s success at Evansville was a direct result of the team’s balance.
“Our team balance is our biggest strength,” Gorski said. “When other teams are game planning for us it is hard to focus on one or two players. Evansville was a sagging defense, and they were looking to take away our inside game. After we hit some threes, we thought they would come out and deny our guards harder, but they never did.”
Both Gorski and Haack said they know the commanding win at Evansville will give them the momentum needed to play a pair of tough physical teams this weekend at Renaissance Coliseum.
The women will kick off a four-game home stand by hosting Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. Friday. Bradley will also battle preseason MVC favorite and continual powerhouse, Drake on Sunday at 2 p.m.
