The Bradley Women’s basketball team showed growth over the 2018-19 season as the Braves finished the year with their first 20 win season since 2008-09. The season was full of accolades that included three braves earning All-Valley honors, two MVC Scholar-Athlete honors, the Sixth Player of the Year and Freshman of the year.
For the first time in program history three braves collected All-Valley honors. Junior forward Chelsea Brackmann and sophomore guard Gabi Haack earned spots on the First-Team All-Conference team and freshman Lasha Petree was an honorable mention. In addition to their feature on the All-Conference team Brackmann was on the All-Defensive team and Petree on the All-Freshman team, named MVC Freshman of the Year and MVC Sixth Player of the Year.
There success on the court was matched in the classroom with Haack and Brackmann earning MVC Scholar-Athlete honors. This is the first time since 2014-15 that the Braves have two Scholar-Athletes.
The improvement from this year to last can be attributed to a change in motivation, says Brackmann. “What worked well for us this past year is that we all were motivated and had the goal in mind to win that championship. Even though we didn’t get there this year, we still were able to win 20 games, which hasn’t happened in a really long time’’.
Brackmann’s offensive production picked up this year as she averaged 12.6 points per game along with collecting 10.9 rebounds per game. The junior forward’s offensive numbers are impressive, but she also got it done on the defensive end as well by collecting 48 steals with 30 blocks on the season.
Sophomore guard Gabi Haack returns for the Braves after leading the Braves in scoring for the past two years. Haack is a prolific shooter and does a lot of the dirty work for her team. When Haack was asked about her consistency and what she has to bring to the table night in and night out for this team to be successful, she replied, “Another one of my roles on this team was to be consistent. Going into games focused on the scout and on the small details. I made sure to wait fo screens, take my player down and get open, and if my shots weren’t falling I focused on rebounding or crashing the offensive glass extra hard”. Gabi Haack is heavily depended on by her team to do a little of everything and to be a leader out there on the court.
Sophomore Nyjah White is on the uprise with her career high season. She averaged 7.4 points per game and grabbed 4.3 rebounds per game. Nyjah White was asked about the returning scorers and what the team is capable of she said “With three double-figure scorers coming back it just makes it so much easier on the offensive end, which means we have so much room to grow defensively. Once we get locked up on [defense] and continue expanding our game, I’m expecting us to be unstoppable, if not close to it”. The sophomore forward will be a key part to the team’s success next year.
The Braves look to continue their positive trend into the coming season as they only lose one senior and return all of their starters. Majority of these big names and key players that were mentioned will be returning to Bradley, plus the Braves hope to strengthen an already deep line up with the addition of freshman and transfers. While they have improved in wins over the previous four years, they have failed to make it past the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament each of those four years, something they hope to improve on in the future.