Women's Basketball continues homestand against Bradley on Friday

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team hosts the Bradley Braves on Friday, Feb. 15 inside the SIU Arena. Tip-off against the Braves is set for 6 p.m., and the contest can be streamed on ESPN+ or can be heard locally on Magic 95.1 FM.

Promotions

Friday night's game will mark the annual Pink Out game at SIU Arena. Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness.

All-Time Series vs. Bradley

• The Salukis and the Braves will meet for the 77th time in a rivalry that dates back to 1983.
• Southern leads the all-time series, 50-26.
• SIU won 27-straight games against Bradley to open the rivalry, which, at the time, was the fourth-longest winning streak against one team in the nation.
• The Braves returned the favor winning 22 of the next 27 games.
• Bradley snapped Southern's eight-game win streak in the series with a 58-53 overtime win on Jan. 20.

Scouting the Braves

• The Braves went 10-1 in non-conference play, with their 10 non-conference wins breaking the school record for most in a season.
• Bradley has won five of its last six games dating back to its overtime win over SIU and are 7-4 in MVC play.
• Chelsea Brackmann, who had 13 points-12 rebounds vs. SIU in Bradley's win on Jan. 20, leads the league in double-doubles (11), defensive rebounds per game (8.0) and rebounds per game (10.9).
• Brackmann is a big reason the Braves are leading the MVC in rebounds (936) and rebounds per game (42.55).
• Gabi Haack leads the Valley in three-pointers made (59) and three-pointers made per game (2.68).

Current Salukis vs. the Braves

• Nicole Martin is averaging 10.8 points on 48.7% (19-of-39) shooting to go along with 6.0 rebounds. She notched a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds in SIU's loss at Bradley on Jan. 20.
• Makenzie Silvey has scored in double figures in all three of her career games vs. Bradley, including 14 points and six boards at Bradley on Jan. 20.
• Abby Brockmeyer is averaging 7.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in three career meetings against the Braves. She was held scoreless for the first time in her career at Bradley on Jan. 20.
• Celina VanHyfte scored 10 points and grabbed four boards in 17 minutes off the bench against Bradley on Jan. 20- which marked the sixth time she has reached double figures in 108 career games and the first time she had done so in conference play since Feb. 14, 2016.

Lending a Helping Hand

• The Salukis are assisting on 64% of their shots this season, which is the second-best ratio in the MVC and 33rd-best ratio nationally.
• Drake leads the nation, and the Valley, with a 75.7% assisted shot ratio.

Mom knows best

• Celina VanHyfte's mom, Val, played basketball at Bradley from 1987-91 and was inducted into Bradley's Hall of Fame in 1995 after a career in which she scored 1,048 career points and is one of only two players in program history to have led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals in a single season.
• Her 788 career rebounds remain the third-most in Bradley history.

Nice to see you again

• Andrea Gorski spent three seasons, from 2013-16, as SIU's associate head coach under Cindy Stein.
• She was part of the largest single-season turnaround in program history, as well as SIU's first postseason appearance since 2007.
• As a player, Gorski was winless (0-9) against the Salukis, as she ran up against some of the best teams in Saluki history, which included the 1991-92 Salukis that won the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament game.
• Gorski notched her first career win over the Salukis in the 58-53 overtime win on Jan. 20.

Peoria's finest

• Cindy Stein, who is set to be inducted into the IBCA Hall of Fame later this year in honor of her prep career at Peoria Richwoods, is 15-2 all-time vs. the Braves, including 9-2 while at SIU.
• Stein was an assistant coach at Bradley from 1988-93.

Century Club

• Makenzie Silvey became the 10th player in school history to net 100 career three-pointers against Missouri State on Feb. 8.
• Silvey's 101 career treys are the 10th-most in program history and her 49 threes this season are the fourth-most for a sophomore in school history.
• She currently ranks fourth in the league in three-pointer made per game (2.33/game) and needs three three-pointers to pass Kasia McClendon (1993-97) for ninth in school history and four treys to move into eighth.

Crashing the Glass

• The Salukis are averaging 13.2 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks third in the Valley behind Missouri State (14.3/game) and Bradley (14.0/game).
• Southern's average is also more than half an offensive rebound more than last season's average of 12.6 o-boards per game.
• Abby Brockmeyer (2.7) and Nicole Martin (2.5) rank second and third in the league, respectively, in offensive rebounds per game.

Logging Big Minutes

• Brittney Patrick and Makenzie Silvey both rank in the top-10 in the league in minutes played.
• Patrick has played at least 35 minutes in five-straight games and is seventh in the league with 32.6 minutes per game. She played all 40 minutes against Missouri State on Feb. 8- which marked the third time this season she has played 40 or more minutes in a game.
• Silvey has played at least 30 minutes in 11 of SIU's last 12 games and is fifth in the MVC in minutes played (32.8/game).

Bringing out her best

• Brittney Patrick set a new career-high with eight rebounds vs. Missouri State on Feb. 8.
• Patrick's career-best for points in a game, 15, also came against the Lady Bears.

Achillies' Heel

• The Salukis achilles' heel this season has been its free throw shooting. Southern ranks last in the league in free throws made (229) and free throw percentage (64.7).
• Southern shot 75% (45-of-60) from the free throw line to go 4-0 in the month of December. In the 10 conference games since, SIU is shooting just 60.9% and has only once (vs. Bradley, 5-for-7) shot better than 70% in a game.
• SIU is 6-0 this season when getting to the charity stripe more than their opponent, with five of the six wins coming at home.

Running the Point

• Brittney Patrick currently leads the Valley, and ranks 26th nationally, in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.44).
• Patrick's 5.2 assists per game also leads the MVC while she also leads the league in total assists (110).
• SIU has only once had a player lead the league in assists per game (Cartaesha Macklin, 2013) and Patrick's 2.44 assist-to-turnover ratio would be a school record.
• In fact, only 13 players from the Valley have finished with a 2.0 or higher assist-to-turnover ratio since the 2002-03 season.

Disrupting Passing Lanes

• Southern has notched 10-plus steals in nine games this season, including a season-high 12 at Drake on Feb. 3.
• The Salukis recorded 10-plus steals in 10 games during the 2018 season, which were the most in a season during head coach Cindy Stein's six seasons at the helm of the Salukis.
• Earlier this season, SIU's five-game streak of 10-plus steals was its longest since the 1994-95 team posted six-straight games with 10 or more takeaways. The 1994-95 Salukis set a school record for most games, 20, with at least 10 steals.

Home Sweet Home

• The Salukis are 8-2 inside SIU Arena this season.
• The Salukis have won at least eight home games in five-straight seasons, including 10 during the 2015-16 season.
• It marks the first time in over 20 years (1993-97) that Southern has posted five-straight seasons with winning records on its home floor.

20-plus Offensive Boards

• Southern grabbed 22 offensive rebounds against Drake- which marked the third time this season that the Salukis have grabbed 20-plus offensive boards.
• SIU's three games with 20-plus offensive rebounds this season are as many as they had in the previous two seasons combined.

Active Streaks

• Makenzie Silvey recorded a pair of steals against Missouri State - which extended her streak of games with at least one steal to 11.
• Abby Brockmeyer who ranks third in the MVC in blocks per game with 1.24 blocks per game, pushed her streak of games with a block to 12-straight after she turned away a shot vs. Missouri State on Feb. 8.

900 Career Points

• Nicole Martin scored her 900th career point against Missouri State on Feb. 8.
• She became just the 28th Saluki to reach 900 career points and the first to do so since Kylie Giebelhausen.
• Should she reach 1,000 points this season, Martin would become just the ninth Saluki to reach 1,000 career points as a junior.

Milestone Watch

• Kristen Nelson is 13 points shy of 500 for her career.

Lift off the bench

• Lauren Hartman played 14 minutes off the bench against Missouri State on Feb. 8 and made her third three-pointer this season to extend her streak of games with at least one point to 7, which is the longest such streak of her career.

Top-3 in the MVC

Several Salukis rank top-3 in the league in various categories.
1st - Brittney Patrick in assists per game (5.2)
1st - Brittney Patrick in total assists (110)
1st - Brittney Patrick in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.44)
2nd - Nicole Martin in field goal percentage (54.7)
3rd - Abby Brockmeyer in blocks per game (1.24)
3rd - Abby Brockmeyer in rebounds per game (8.0)

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