While the women’s basketball team was on the road this past weekend, they fell in both contests due to slow offensive starts.
On Friday, Missouri State executed their game plan better than the Braves and Sunday at Southern Illinois, Bradley could not bounce back from a 17-point deficit.
The Braves were able to stick with Missouri State until the 2:37 mark in the first quarter when the Bears went on a 10-0 run to close out the first quarter.
During the first four and a half minutes of the second quarter the Braves held Missouri State scoreless, but the Bears were able to break out of their slump with back-to-back trifectas. Then it was Missouri State’s turn to hold Bradley scoreless for 4:30 and grow their lead to 16 points. The Bears led 32-19 at halftime.
Coming out of the half, it was the same to the chagrin of Braves fans until junior forward Vanessa Markert led Bradley on a 12-1 run. Unfortunately, the Braves were unable to get within 12 points and took the defeat 74-54.
On Sunday morning, the Braves again struggled to play tough from the first tip and allowed Southern Illinois to score the first 12 of 14 points scored in the contest. Markert looked to keep the Braves in the game by scoring all seven points for Bradley in the first quarter. In the first half, Bradley allowed the Salukis to make 42.3 percent of their shots and 6-11 three pointers. The Braves were behind 34-21 at the half.
Gorski said team needs to be more consistent and have a positive mentality in order to win.
“We need to begin games confidently,” Gorski said. “We cannot wait to see what the other team will do and focus on executing our game plan. If we believe that we can hang with [our opponent] and start strong we will be more successful.”
In the second half, the Braves came out determined to get back in the game but were unable to hold Southern Illinois scoreless for long stretches. The Braves were able to get within six points with 1:43 left in the game, although it proved to be a classic case of “too little, too late.” The Braves fell 62-53 on account of losing the points off turnovers fight 18-7.
At Southern Illinois, Markert notched her first double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Head coach Andrea Gorski said she was proud of her starting forward and hopes Markert can become a more consistent contributor for Bradley.
“[Markert] had her best game on Sunday and repeatedly posted up strong,” Gorski said. “If she can continue to be a presence, opposing teams will start double teaming her allowing our guards to make three pointers. The key to our strong shooting around the arc is dominating inside [the paint].”
This past weekend, the Braves struggled to erase deficits. Gorski knows that double-digit deficits are difficult to overcome and stressed the importance of starting strong.
“We cannot get into the 10, 12, 14 point range and hope to win,” Gorski said. “All of the good teams can score and it is hard to get consecutive stops. We just need to come out our way and make the other team deal with us.”
The Bradley women’s basketball team’s record stands at 5-8 in conference play, good enough for sixth out of 10. As the season comes to a close, Gorski said she hopes the team can finish strong.
“We do not have one person to take over the game but we have the pieces to win any game,” Gorski said. “Our problem is we have too many lulls and need to start stronger. I am happy we do not quit fighting, but we just cannot fall behind early in games. We do not want to play the first day of the tournament and to do that we need two big wins this weekend.”
Tonight Evansville comes to Peoria- it’s a team the Braves beat by 58 points on the road, Gorski is preparing the same way she usually does.
“We will not overlook Evansville because if we do not give maximum effort we can be upset,” Gorski said. “Every team in the conference has the ability to win any game. In order to win games we need to be mentally prepared.”
The women will look to start strong this “PLAY4KAY” weekend in support of breast cancer research as they host Evansville at 7 p.m. Friday, and Indiana State Sunday at 2 p.m. Both games will be played at the Renaissance Coliseum.
