The Bradley women’s basketball team (5-13, 1-6 MVC) went winless over their weekend road trip to Chicago and Valparaiso.
The Braves hoped to leave Chicago with a win streak after beating SIU nearly a week before, but that aspiration was to no avail.
Bradley fell to the Flames 75-68 in a tightly contested contest. Junior guard Nika Dorsey led the Braves with 16 points, a season high for her.
“I’m just really happy for [Nika Dorsey]. Her hard work is manifesting and paying off,” head coach Kate Popovec-Goss said. “She is someone that I think is a good basketball player, but I think her biggest strength is how smart she is and how she navigates the game and I think that’s been really evident in really her last three to four performances.”
Alongside Dorsey, freshman Armoni Strozier has risen up big time for the Braves. The forward registered a double-double in just her second start this season.
“[Armoni Strozier] has physical gifts that I can’t teach in terms of her mobility, her strength and she too has a high basketball IQ,” Popovec-Goss said. “I think for [Strozier] it’s just been continuing to gain confidence and focusing on the ways that she can just help the team by doing what she does.”
The first quarter was controlled by Bradley from the start, as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead with less than a minute eclipsed in the game. The Braves led for the entirety of the quarter and at one point held a 15-8 advantage, their largest of the night.
The Flames began to chip at Bradley’s lead towards the end of the first quarter. Still, the Braves held on to a 17-14 lead after the first frame.
The second quarter saw both teams swapping shots in a back and forth contest. UIC started the quarter on a 4-0 run to grab their first lead of the game at 18-17. The Braves struggled from the field overall in the quarter, going 6-18 on field goal attempts (33.3%).
Despite the shooting struggles, Bradley held a 33-31 lead heading into the locker room.
With just a minute left in the third quarter UIC went on another 4-0 run and ended the frame with a 50-46 lead over the Braves.
The fourth quarter proved to be challenging for Bradley, as they were down by four in enemy territory. The Braves showed their resilience by cutting the lead down to two points a few times, but after recording just one field goal and being outscored 2-6 in the final two minutes of the game, the Braves would fall to the Flames to start the weekend road trip.
Popovec-Goss acknowledges the fact that this Bradley team has been competitive in the Valley this year and knows that the Braves will be in a lot of tight contests this season, they just have to execute.
“We are going to be in a lot of close games. We are much more competitive this year and I think you can see that in some of our scores,” Popovec-Goss said. “Even in the non-conference, we were in a lot of close games. So again, how do we close that gap? And again, in games like that, it really comes down to being able to mentally execute and that’s been the message already.”
The Braves had a short drive from Chicago to Valparaiso, Indiana and hoped that Sunday’s matchup against the Beacons would turn their fortunes around.
Unfortunately, Bradley dropped the second of two games on the road trip 79-55, in part because of a big second quarter from the Beacons. Freshman forward Claire McDougall led the Braves in scoring with 12 points on the afternoon and junior guard Nika Dorsey was not far off with nine points for herself.
McDougall’s 12 points ended up being her season high, which Popovec-Goss credited to her willingness to get better.
“Claire is probably one of the hardest workers on our team. She is a team-first kid and I think the thing about Claire is she is really multi-talented,” Popovec-Goss said. “She does a little bit of everything and she has a little bit of everything. I think it’s just all about gaining confidence and her confidence has stemmed from the work in the gym; she shoots every single day.”
In the first quarter, both the Braves and Beacons were trading baskets with each other and the difference was a buzzer-beater layup made by Valparaiso to break the tie and give the Beacons the 14-12 lead heading into the second frame.
In the second quarter, the Beacons started on a 5-0 run in the opening minute and did not look back. In the quarter, the Braves were outscored by Valpo 33-13.
Popovec-Goss credits that wide margin in second quarter scoring to two parts of the game that contradict each other: good offense and bad defense.
“I don’t believe that we defended great and there were some adjustments that looking at the tape I should have made as a coach that when we play them again I certainly will,” Popovec-Goss said. “In the same token, Valpo executed their offense at a high level and we did not defend at a high level.”
The scoring margin got better in the third quarter, as the Braves were only outscored 19-12 by the Beacons.
In the fourth quarter, both teams went back and forth, very similar to the first. The score with 2:36 remaining was 79-55 in favor of Valparaiso. Both teams went scoreless for the rest of the game, and the Beacons took the victory.
“Valpo [was] ready to go and they were the sharper team,” Popovec-Goss said. “We have to learn how to mentally overcome some of the physicality, the effects of travel, and things like that because at the end of the day, everyone in the Valley has the same advantages and disadvantages in our travel schedules.”
Bradley will look to right the ship at home on Saturday against Northern Iowa.
