In the season opener for Bradley women’s basketball, the Braves (0-1) were picked apart by the Missouri Tigers (2-0) 83-38 on Thursday night.
The Tigers poked and clawed at their second Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) victim this season after beating Missouri State on Monday. Missouri used their scrappy defense to force the Braves to turn the ball over 24 times, scoring 31 off of Bradley’s mistakes.
In head coach Kate Popovec-Goss’s debut at the helm, the Braves were hoping to continue their season-opening win streak. Prior to Thursday, Bradley had won their last five season openers and, despite being 3-14 versus the SEC all time, all three wins were against the Tigers.
Without returning junior Tete Danso and sophomore Nika Dorsey, junior Isis Fitch started the scoring off for the visiting team, knocking down a three at the top of the key in the first quarter. Junior Ruba Abo Hashesh handcuffed the Braves with seven of the team’s 11 first-half turnovers.
Trailing the Tigers 19-6 after the first quarter, Bradley’s 2-3 zone defense was dismantled in the second stanza. The Tigers hit six 3-pointers in the first half and the Braves continued to struggle moving the ball past the arc, as Missouri entered the locker room up 37-17 at half.
Turning over the ball on the first pass to start the third quarter, the out-of-locker room performance was no different for Bradley. The Braves were outscored 46-21 in the second half as the Tigers jumped out to a 45-point advantage and comfortably rode to the win.
Fitch and Old Dominion sophomore transfer Alex Rouse led the Braves with nine points, while sophomore Caroline Waite and graduate student Celia Satter finished with six each. The Braves were outscored in the paint 36-10.
At the end of the day, the Braves’ defense and ball-handling led to the team being unable to set a rhythm all night. The Tigers fared well at picking up the pace and pushing the ball to the wing for easy triples – of which they had 10.
The newly-constructed Braves will look to make progress against the South Dakota Coyotes in Peoria on Sunday at 2 p.m.
