Bradley women’s basketball opened a big weekend series at No. 25 Missouri State with a 62-56 loss. Though the Braves were well within striking distance late in the game’s final frame, the Bears ultimately showed why they are a perfect 10-0 in Missouri Valley Conference competition.
“They hit some big shots there late and we didn’t,” Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski said. “You’ve gotta come down the stretch and you’ve just gotta knock down shots. We’ll watch film and see if we maybe could’ve executed a little bit better.”
Bradley was led by a balanced attack in a game that resulted in one of the most diverse statsheets of the season. Senior Lasha Petree led the way with 13 points, while senior Gabi Haack and sophomore Mahri Petree trailed with 10 apiece.
Junior Tatum Koenig contributed 8 points and senior Nyjah White scored an additional 7.
“A lot of that is that Mahri [Petree] came in and had a great game for us,” Gorski said. “Everyone scored that played, just that fourth quarter shooting is kind of what did us in.”
The Braves shot 5-17 in the fourth quarter, good for a 29 percent mark that was 16 percentage points off the next lowest quarter. While Missouri State only connected on three of 14 shots from the field in the fourth quarter, timely baskets and six free throws allowed the Bears to close out the win.
Prior to the fourth quarter, the Braves turned a 40-28 deficit with 7:28 left in the third quarter into a 42-40 lead with 2:29 showing in the same frame. That would be the Braves final lead of the evening.
“The ball got moving on offense,” Gorski said of the run. “The ball was zipping around … when we’re moving the ball like that, we’re really hard to guard. I thought we were cutting out and not standing on offense.”
Missouri State was also balanced in the scoring column and was led by a combined 34 points split nearly evenly between Abby Hipp, Brice Calip and Jasmine Green.
Bradley and Missouri State will play tomorrow at 5 p.m. and the game will be shown locally on WMBD-CBS.
