PEORIA, IL – Bradley Women's Basketball celebrated its first-ever Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance with a ring presentation and banner unveil ceremony pregame, but did not show any signs of a celebratory hangover, dealing fellow 2021 NCAA Tournament participant Wright State an 84-65 defeat Tuesday night at Renaissance Coliseum.
The 19-point victory was Bradley's best season-opening margin of victory since taking down Saint Louis, 86-49, Nov. 27, 1987 at the old Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. Freshman Caroline Waite just missed out on the Bradley freshman debut scoring record, finishing with a game-high 23 points, and sophomore forward Daija Powell tacked on a career-best 18 points, while sharing team-high honors with six rebounds, in her Bradley debut.