Braves Open Four-Game Home Stand With SIU & Evansville

Duane Zehr, Bradley University ITPS

Women's Basketball 1/25/2017 3:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball will play six of the next eight games at Renaissance Coliseum, opening a four-game Missouri Valley Conference home stand Friday with a 7 p.m. game against Southern Illinois and Sunday at 11 a.m. against Evansville.

In addition to Friday's matchup with Southern Illinois marking first-year Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski's first game against the school she coached at the previous three seasons, it will be Hoops in the Heartland Night with the first 100 fans receiving free Hoops in the Heartland sunglasses courtesy of the Quad Cities Visitors Bureau. Friday's game will also be $1 hotdog night at Renaissance Coliseum.

Sunday's outing against Evansville will wrap up the first half of the MVC schedule and will feature a special 11 a.m. start time. Halftime will feature a special performance by the K9 Crew Frisbee dogs.

Both games will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. In addition, BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM (www.1290wirl.com) radio broadcast with Ed Hammond providing play-by-play.

The Braves (6-12 overall, 2-5 MVC) are tied with Southern Illinois (8-10 overall, 2-5 MVC) for seventh in the Valley standings entering Friday's tilt after posting a 75-73 overtime victory at Missouri State Sunday. Bradley is one game back of Evansville (8-10 overall, 3-4 MVC), which plays at Illinois State Friday night, for fifth in the MVC standings heading into the weekend.

Sunday's overtime win at Missouri State was Bradley's second overtime game in the last six outings and the Braves have played two overtime contests in regular-season MVC action for the first time since 2001-02. Prior to Sunday, Bradley's last road overtime victory against a Valley opponent was Feb. 11, 2007 at Evansville.

Bradley rallied from a 12-point third-quarter deficit against the Bears Sunday, marking the largest deficit overcome by the Braves in a road game since Nov. 11, 2013 (18 points at SEMO) and biggest comeback on the road against a Valley foe since Jan. 13, 2005 (12 points at Evansville).

Three of Bradley's five losses in MVC have been one-possession contests with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. In fact, six of the 11 road games this season have had a margin of three points or fewer in the final two minutes, including five of seven league games.

Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) snagged 13 rebounds Sunday at Missouri State and is seven boards short of becoming the sixth player in school history with 700 career rebounds. Through games of Jan. 22 Lerma was one of 11 players in the nation to tally 165 points, 170 rebounds, 35 assists, 10 blocks and 15 or more steals.

Sophomore Vanessa Markert (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) scored a team-best 17 points to help highlight Sunday's victory against the Bears and has scored in double figures in three of the last five games. She has averaged 10.0 points per game and is shooting 42 percent from three-point range at Renaissance Coliseum this season.

Freshman Alona Johnson (Milwaukee, Wis./Riverside) is coming off a season-high 15 points at Missouri State and also had five assists and three steals off the bench. Johnson has averaged 3.7 assists per game while boasting a 1.44 assist-to-turnover ratio in Valley contests. The team leader in both assists and steals, she would be the first freshman to lead the team in both categories since Jen Brown (2003-04) and is seven assists and five steals short of becoming just the 10th Bradley freshman with at least 55 assists and 30 or more steals.

The Braves will wrap up the four-game home stand and open the second half of the Valley schedule next weekend with home matchups against Loyola (Feb. 3) and Indiana State (Feb. 5).

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Players Mentioned

#4 Alona Johnson: G; 5' 5"; Freshman

#23 Leti Lerma: F; 5' 10"; Senior

#44 Vanessa Markert: F; 6' 2"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#4 Alona Johnson
: 5' 5"; Freshman
: G

#23 Leti Lerma
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

#44 Vanessa Markert
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: F

Braves Open Four-Game Home Stand With SIU & Evansville

Players Mentioned

#4 Alona Johnson

#23 Leti Lerma

#44 Vanessa Markert

Players Mentioned

#4 Alona Johnson

#23 Leti Lerma

#44 Vanessa Markert