Haack Earns First-Team All-MVC Honor

Originally posted on bradleybraves.com on 3/10/21

Senior Gabi Haack is now the first three-time First-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) selection in Bradley Women's Basketball history and junior Lasha Petree is the seventh two-time first-team all-conference performer for the Braves after the pair both earned the honor for the 2020-21 season according to an announcement by the league office Wednesday morning.

In addition to the all-conference recognition, Petree earned a spot on the Valley's All-Defensive Team for the second straight year and is the fourth two-time MVC All-Defensive Team pick in Bradley history.

The Braves have had seven first-team all-conference performers over the past three years, which is equal to the amount Bradley produced between the 1996-97 and 2017-18 seasons. In fact, the Braves have eight First-Team All-Valley honorees in the five years Andrea Gorski has been head coach at her alma mater, or the same number of first-team all-league picks the Braves had after she earned the honor as a senior in 1991-92 and when she took over as head coach at BU following the 2015-16 campaign.

Haack, who was named the MVC's Scholar-Athlete of the Year Tuesday, is third in the MVC in scoring this season at 16.0 points per game and her team-best 7.0 rebounds per outing is good for fourth in the league. She leads the Valley in three-point field goals per game, becoming the first player in conference history to hit 60 or more triples in four different seasons.

The MVC's active career scoring leader, Haack is fourth in career scoring at Bradley with 1,561 career points and she is fourth in Valley history with 272 career made three-pointers. She is 13 points from moving into third in career scoring at Bradley, in addition to sitting just six made three-pointers from taking over second in conference history in the category. Haack has started 105 consecutive games leading into this week's MVC Tournament, two short of the Bradley record, and matched the school mark for career double figure scoring games with her 85th career outing with 10 or more points this past Saturday.

Petree leads the MVC in scoring (17.9 points per game) and blocks (2.2 per game), in addition to being the only player in the nation with 45 made three-pointers and 50 or more blocked shots. Looking to join Shelli Braud (1987-88) as the only Bradley players to lead the Valley in scoring, Petree is also trying to join Illinois State's Caryn Brune (1992-93) as the only players in Valley history to lead the conference in both scoring and blocks in the same season.

This year, Petree has scored 18 or more in 14 games and has reached the 20-point mark a career-best 11 times. Her 17.9 points-per-game scoring average would rank 10th among Bradley season marks along with being the best average by a Brave since 2001-02. The fourth fastest player in program history to 1,000 career points, Petree broke into Bradley's career top 10 in scoring last weekend and she is eighth nationally in career scoring among active juniors.

On the defensive end, Petree leads the Braves in both blocks and steals. She is already 18th in MVC in career rejections, joining fellow Brave Heather Best as the only players in MVC history with 135 career three-pointers and 135 or more career blocks.

Bradley finished fifth in the MVC regular-season standings to earn a spot in Friday's 2 p.m. MVC Tournament quarterfinal game against #4 seed Northern Iowa in Moline, Ill.