On Nov. 9, an unprecedented event will take place in Renaissance Coliseum as the Bradley Braves women’s basketball team will raise its MVC Championship banner into immortality in the rafters before their season opener.
The Braves are in the midst of their best run in program history; their 72 wins in the last four seasons have tied the most wins ever for the Braves in a four-year stretch.
And the best part?
One of the best players in Braves history, Gabi Haack, is returning to Peoria for one last dance.
Bradley’s first conference title punched the Braves’ inaugural ticket to the NCAA Tournament, where they ran into a buzzsaw, namely the sixth-seeded Texas Longhorns and top WNBA draft pick Charli Collier. Despite the 81-62 defeat that ended their season and significant losses in the transfer portal, head coach Andrea Gorski, the first team all-MVC selection Haack and seasoned veteran Tatum Koenig have aspirations to repeat their historic season.
“I’m looking to accomplish another MVC championship,” Koenig said. “That’s always a personal and team goal for us.”
Surprises were aplenty in the Braves’ offseason, first in mid-April when Haack (16.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG in 2020-21) announced that she would exercise her option to play a fifth year in the red and white.
Just a week later, two of Bradley’s most versatile players in two-time MVC First Team selection Lasha Petree (18.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG) and Nyjah White (9.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG) transferred to Rutgers and Kansas City, respectively. Petree’s younger sister, Mahri, (7.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG) dashed for UTEP shortly after.
The Braves didn’t miss a beat with roster construction though, as three transfers and five freshmen have been added to the mix. Even with losing the three transfers and Emily Marsh, the latter due to graduation, Gorski said that Bradley’s roster is even more loaded this year.
“This will be the deepest team we have had at Bradley since I have been here since we can easily play up to 11 players in any given game,” Gorski said. “They are a no-nonsense group who are very coachable and understand the expectations we have for our program.”
Leading the group will be Haack and Koenig, who both have at least three years of starting experience. Haack, one of the most decorated athletes in Bradley history, scored at least 10 points in all but four games last year and is poised to make an even bigger impact this season.
“I envision Gabi as having another all-conference type year for us,” Gorski said. “Potential player of the year, if we finish in the top three in MVC.
New Braves bigs
The Braves’ backcourt looks to be their strong suit, at least experience-wise, as each senior on the team is listed as a guard. Heading the group of traditional fourth-year seniors are Koenig (7.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.0 APG) and Chloe Rice (1.7 PPG, 0.8 RPG). While Koenig will maintain her role as the floor general, she is ready to assume a more scoring-centric role, should the Braves need her to.
“There may be games where I am the main scorer, but we have a couple returners and several newcomers who will step up into that role,” Koenig said. “I would like to remain a main distributor because that’s my identity, but we have a lot of people who can score on any given night.”
On paper, the Braves are thin in terms of frontcourt members from last year’s MVC championship team, but Gorski has liked what she’s seen from her group of bigs.
Junior transfer guard Sierra Morrow has impressed after receiving NJCAA Honorable Mention honors at Seward CC in Kansas. Morrow impressed in the Braves’ Red/White scrimmage, with 11 points in the abbreviated intrasquad contest. The newcomer also proved she can light up the scoreboard in a jiffy, tallying 41 points against Cloud County last season.
Also looking to contribute and earn significant minutes are a trio of sophomore forwards. Forward Tete Danso, who tied for fifth on the team with 3.1 rebounds per game despite averaging only nine minutes, is another face who Gorski said will contend for a starting spot. Texas Tech transfer Daija Powell and returnee Isis Fitch round out a deep group.
“We have several student-athletes that we feel can contribute in a big way right away,” Gorski said. “From the post position, Sierra Morrow will be a big factor in our success. Isis Fitch has worked tirelessly to improve her offensive game and will have a bigger role this year. We will have 4-5 posts contributing in the rotation from game to game.”
Freshmen won’t wait to make an impact
Even though the Braves have not started their regular season yet, Gorski and company feel like they hit a home run on the recruiting trail, picking up two talented Iowan guards in Caroline Waite and Koenig’s younger sister, Sasha.
“It’s always been our dream to play college ball together, so this has already been an amazing experience,” Tatum said. “We mesh really well on the court, and off the court, we are best friends. I’m thankful to have such a great relationship with my sister.
Waite, the all-time leading scorer at Ames High School, packs a punch in her 5-foot-4 inch frame, displaying a poised transition game and sweet shooting stroke in the Red/White scrimmage. The younger Koenig led the Red team’s scoring with eight, so it’s safe to say that Gorski will give the duo playing time right away.
The road to repeating
The Braves’ biggest key this year to repeat as conference champs will be locking opponents down on defense, as the Braves deal without the services of Marsh and Lasha Petree in the post. Bradley outperformed its opponents in nearly all defensive categories last season, but as the team takes time to perfect its offensive chemistry, it may have to learn how to win a defensive dogfight.
“Defensively, we need to stay in the top three in the MVC in [defensive field goal percentage],” Gorski said. “[We need to be] able to stop a hot guard and play physical defense from the guard position.”
The MVC will bring a worthy challenge as fellow conference powers Missouri State, Drake and Illinois State all return a majority of their best players. Despite the Braves being projected to finish fourth in the MVC, Gorski is confident that her team will compete for the conference crown, thanks to a hearty non-conference schedule featuring four teams in last year’s top-100 NET rankings.
“The MVC will be the strongest it has ever been this season, and that is saying a lot since we had five postseason teams last season,” Gorski said. “Our goal is to always get a postseason bid, so in order to do so, we need to play a non-conference schedule that will put us in position for an at-large bid.”
The biggest factor working in the Braves’ favor is the versatility of their athletes. Just as Lasha Petree and White were positionless players last year, the line between Bradley’s guards and forwards will be very thin. Haack, Morrow and freshman Abbie Draper are three of the many Braves that will likely play multiple positions on both sides of the ball.
“This year’s team has depth,” Koenig said. “Our identity will be our versatility. We have several weapons on this team. . .and will be able to throw different things at our opponents.”
The 2021-22 campaign is full of tests of the Braves’ depth, grit, size and experience, but the Braves shouldn’t be written off from contending with MVC heavyweights. While Bradley’s NCAA Tournament berth came as a surprise to some, the Braves’ confidence to repeat the same result is undisputed.
The Braves appear to be here to stay and will put that to test in their season opener against Wright State on Tuesday.
