Bradley (3-1) women’s basketball returned home on Thursday and defeated Indiana University Indianapolis (1-4) 72-47.
There was a large crowd at Renaissance Coliseum as the Braves hosted Field Trip Day, with several grade schools in attendance.
“It was awesome,” head coach Kate Popovec-Goss said. “Shoutout to our marketing and ticketing department for putting this together. I love the Peoria community, and it feels good to come back and play in front of a home crowd.”
Bradley got off to a hot start on offense, outscoring the Jaguars 16-6 in the first quarter. Graduate senior guard Soleil Barnes had 14 of the Braves’ first-quarter points, helping the team to an 8-0 run to start the game.
“Just come out being aggressive, and when I’m aggressive, the team follows,” Barnes said. “I just came out with the mindset to get this dub and to hit the first punch, as coach says.”
Barnes cooled down after the first quarter but still contributed six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Her final point total of 20 set a new career high.
“I absolutely love Soleil; she’s so fun to coach,” Popovec-Goss said. “She wanted to take on more of a scoring role and have more of an impact role, and I thought she started off hot, but her floor game was incredible. I thought today was her most complete game.”
Bradley’s bench played an essential role in the win over IU Indy. Caitlin Washington scored eight points, Lila Posthuma scored seven and Claire McDougall tallied six.
“Having bench depth gives you an advantage,” Popovec-Goss said. “I’m really pleased with how balanced our scoring attack is, whether it’s coming from the bench or our starters because we need everyone.”
“We’re the type of team that needs everyone to do what they do at a high level,” Popovec-Goss added. “It’s also fun to play that way because it can be anyone’s day or anyone’s night.”
Defensive identity
The Braves’ goal coming into the season was to play better defense, as that has been one of their weaknesses over the past couple of seasons.
IU Indy had scored at least 60 points in its first four games. However, the Jaguars were held to just 47 against Bradley, with most of those points coming late in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.
“I’m really pleased,” Popovec-Goss said. “As a coach, the most important part of a program is just belief in the system and belief in what we’re doing. The goal is to get better every single day. And what I love about this team right now is they’re excited about playing defense, and it shows in our play. We’re certainly not perfect, but they’re getting better every day.”
The Braves’ next matchup is on Sunday when they host Western Illinois. The Leathernecks have scored 80 or more points in three of their five games so far, providing another test for Bradley to see where the team is defensively.
“We’ve got tough opponents coming up again,” Popovec-Goss said. “We’ve got another team coming in on Sunday that’s capable of getting hot in a hurry, and I think our kids are just really focused on taking it one possession and one stop at a time.”
If Bradley wants to maintain its strong start, they will need to motivate the team’s leaders against tough competition.
“I try to be myself and encourage the team to put in the confidence that they can do whatever,” Barnes said. “I think buying into the team and letting them know that as long as we do this together, they can’t stop us.”
Tip-off for the Braves matchup against Western Illinois is at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Renaissance Coliseum.
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