By: Taise Thompson and Cheyenne Carder
Although the Bradley Women’s basketball team has seen more improvement and success in this past season, they are setting out to put a higher standard of play for the season to come.
With their 20-10 over all record along, which includes twelve home game wins, they have raised their standing in the Missouri Valley Conference to fifth place. Last year they came in seventh with a 12-19 record.
Head Coach Andrea Gorski says “…first and foremost, you have to be tough. No matter what your skill set is, what position you play, we need toughness in every position… tough players who are coachable and good teammates.” Coach Gorski emphasizes that these are the type of athletes she looks to recruit.
Roni Roberts and Mahri Petree, younger sister of Bradley freshman guard Lasha Petree, are set to join the program as freshmen next year.
Roni Roberts is a 6’2 forward from Brownsburg, Indiana. Roberts was an all-conference performer as a junior, averaging 8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 steal per outing. She also garnered all-county honors, while helping the Bulldogs to a conference and sectional title in 2017-18.
Roberts was part of two sectional and county championship teams at Brownsburg in addition to taking part in the North/South All-Star Game. She also lettered in track at Brownsburg, qualifying for regionals in the discus each of the past two seasons and was part of a conference and sectional championship squad last year.
Assistant Coach Paul Fessler on Roni Roberts; “We’re excited for her to come in… she needs to work on being able to finish through contact around the rim because it’s going to be a more physical game.”
Mahri Petree is a 5’11 guard from Detroit, Michigan. Petree earned First-Team Class C All-State honors from the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan as a junior after averaging 10.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last year.
Petree has helped the Gators to back-to-back second-place state finishes. A two-time team captain, Petree was a Detroit News Second-Team All-State pick in addition to earning honorable mention all-state recognition from the Detroit Free Press. Petree also landed on the Ann Arbor News All-Area First-Team
Coach Gorski says that what she is most looking forward to next year is “the continuing development of our young players, we had nine freshman and sophomores on our team this year and they made great strides… it’s just fun to see them grow every week in their skill set and get stronger in the weight room, which I think we need to do. So just continuing improvement for our young players and overall for the program.”
Lasha Petree, one of nine underclassmen this year and reining Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week, says, “ Over the past year we’ve actually gotten really close and it’s like a big family, I have their backs and they have mine and i know that.” She says that she came in strong but she knows she’s not done yet.
Coach Gorski and her team are looking forward to pushing even further up in the Missouri Valley standings next year.