Bradley Hilltopics Online

Slideshow

View a slideshow from the invitational trip.

Several times during the 2009–10 season, the Bradley women’s basketball team bent — during a 4-8 start, during two losses to open conference play, and during a first-round loss in the conference tournament. But the team never broke.

That resiliency culminated in the team’s first-ever postseason appearance and first-ever postseason win in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI).

“We’d bend, but we’d never break,” Coach Paula Buscher says. “So many times you can get frustrated. You can get disappointed. I think we got more determined.”

The team opened the season 4-6 prior to conference play and then lost at Missouri State and Wichita State. Buscher realized the need for patience. She saw something special in her team: She just needed to wait for it to emerge.

“The results weren’t exactly what we wanted,” she says. “But I knew this could be a special group if we continued to build upon what we were doing and really keep working to improve.”

The team members set small goals for each game, such as playing better help-side defense or grabbing more rebounds.

“I think the biggest goal was to get better every day,” Buscher says. “The basketball season is such a long season. It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. You can’t look at the finish line. You have to work on today.”

Tale of two halves

Co-captain JENNY VAN KIRK ’10 is introduced in Charleston before the Braves’ final game of 2010.

After the opening conference losses, the team hit its stride and won its next six games, including back-to-back wins against Creighton and Drake on the road.

“The season was sort of a tale of two halves,” says co-captain JENNY VAN KIRK ’10. “We started out obviously not the way we wanted to with a 4-8 record. At that point, we could have given up and said, ‘This is the end of the season for us.’ But the whole season was a work in progress for us and we improved from day one to our final loss.”

By the tournament, the team was 16-12 and sported a 12-6 conference record. But a first-round loss to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament bent the team’s spirit.

Players walked into the gym the following Monday, not knowing whether they’d earn a postseason berth. When they received an invitation to the new WBI tournament, they were ecstatic. The invitation represented the first postseason bid ever awarded to a Bradley women’s basketball team.

The team traveled to Louisville and beat the 2009 Final Four qualifier 69-59 on their home court on March 17.

“That was probably one of the most fun games I’ve been a part of in my career here,” Van Kirk says. “We got to put our jerseys on one more time, and that energy showed on the court. Everyone was having a great time.”

Then the team flew to Charleston, South Carolina, for a second-round game. In addition to practicing, they enjoyed sightseeing in the coastal city. A 76-66 loss to the College of Charleston on March 21 ended the Braves’ season with a 17-14 record, but didn’t diminish their pride.

Next season

The end of the season immediately sparked the start of the 2010–11 campaign. Buscher and her assistants reviewed player statistics and future opponents on the way back from South Carolina. Next year’s team will have the pleasure of practicing and playing in the new campus arena.

In June, SONYA HARRIS ’11 announced she would complete her senior year at Bradley, but would no longer play basketball. Harris was defensive player of the year in the MVC.

“When something like this happens, it’s a door of opportunity for someone else to step up,” Buscher told the Journal Star. “It will be difficult to replace Sonya’s blocked shots and rebounding, but we’ll focus on it collectively as a group.”

Slideshow of invitational trip

Photography by Duane Zehr

For non-Flash users, view the Flickr set.

Postseason play for women’s basketball | Sports wrap-up | Nominate an athlete for Hall of Fame | CHRIS ROBERTS ’10 in slam dunk contest | B-Club award honors two athletes