A strong second half effort propelled the Bradley women’s basketball team to a 61-51 victory against Valparaiso on Friday and a split in the season series. With the win, the Braves improve to 11-7 on the season and 7-4 in MVC play.
“It was ugly at times, but I thought that our shot selection was a lot better today,” head coach Andrea Gorski said. “Defensively, I thought we got a little bit of foul trouble but they’re going to do that to you because they take it to the basket almost every possession.”
One night after hitting a program-record 17 three pointers, Valpo went cold, finishing 7-26 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Braves continued to fall victim to the turnover bug, committing 21 turnovers a night after committing 19. However, Valpo failed to consistently score off them, only scoring 11 compared to 27 the previous night.
“That’s definitely something we’re going to have to work on if we face this team in the tournament,” Gorski said.
The Braves were led by seniors Gabi Haack and Nyjah White in the scoring department, combining to score 38 of the team’s 61 total points on a combined 15-27 from the floor. Haack scored 20 points on seven shots and drained four three pointers. White added 18 points on 14 shots and added seven rebounds.
Junior Lasha Petree was quiet for most of the game with seven points on nine shots. Bradley shot efficiently, shooting 45 percent from the floor on 49 attempts and 33 percent from three-point land. They also scored 28 points in the paint.
“We just moved the ball better today and then found the open shooters,” Haack said. “Nyjah [White] had a really good game today…when she gets down into the paint, she really can score in a lot of different ways.”
For the Crusaders, Shay Frederic led the effort with 11 points and Caitlin Morrison added 10.
The Braves entered the game with a different looking starting lineup. Junior Chloe Rice and senior Uche Ufochukwu were given the starting nods over Petree and senior Emily Marsh due to a coach’s decision.
It was very evenly contested in the first quarter as both teams traded buckets, but Valpo had an 18-14 edge at the end of the frame.
The back-and-forth buckets continued into the second quarter as Valpo led 23-21 at the 6:58 mark of the frame. Then, the Braves turned on the jets with a 16-1 run powered by a three-point play by White and two Haack three pointers powered them to a 37-27 halftime lead.
Valpo dug its way out of the hole to open the half as they were down 44-39 with 3:20 left in the quarter. The Braves then responded with a 7-0 run to end the quarter to take a 51-39 lead. By then, the Crusaders were exhausted. The Braves took advantage and pulled away in the fourth quarter.
“It’s not easy to win on the road and anytime you can do that you feel good about yourself,” Gorski said.
With tonight’s performance, Haack moved into seventh place on Bradley’s all-time scoring list with 1,453 career points. Her four three-point field goals also moved her up two spots into 13th place on The Valley’s all-time list for career three-pointers made with 256.
“I really don’t think about that,” Haack said. “I’d rather get a team W instead of any personal accolades, I do appreciate all that and everything.”
Bradley now turns its focus to a home series with Northern Iowa on Feb. 12 and 13.
