PEORIA, Ill. -- Seventh-year Bradley women's basketball head coach Paula Buscher and her Braves will be hitting the road early and often in 2006-07 playing nine of the first 14 games and 12 of the first 20 away from Robertson Memorial Field House, as the 2006-07 women's basketball schedule was announced Wednesday.
Bradley will play a program record 30 games in 2006-07 counting the first round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, having never played more than 28 games in a season. The Braves will play a minimum of 10 games against teams that advanced to postseason play and at least 18 of the 29 regular-season games will be against teams that finished the 2005-06 season with winning marks.
After kicking off the exhibition season with the annual Red-White Scrimmage on October 27, Bradley will play Truman State (Nov. 1) and Quincy (Nov. 5) at Robertson Memorial Field House, before facing Chicago State Nov. 11 to open the regular-season. The Chicago State game is the first of 11 games against instate foes as the Braves will play nine of the other 11 Division I teams in the Prairie State.
The first of 16 road games will be Nov. 14, when the Braves travel to Charleston, Ill., to face Eastern Illinois. Bradley will follow that with a Nov. 17 road tilt at Butler before returning home to play host to WNIT participant and defending regular-season Mid-Continent Conference champion Western Illinois on Nov. 20.
Bradley will make its first trip to the state of Texas since the 1995-96 season and third overall to Texas, for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament hosted by SMU November 24 & 25. The tournament field includes SMU, NCAA Tournament participant and defending Horizon League Champion Wisconsin-Milwaukee and San Jose State.
The Braves close out the non-conference portion of the schedule with three of four games at home, following a Nov. 28 road game at Valparaiso. A home contest against Loyola on Dec. 3 is Bradley's last game before finals. A road tilt at Illinois-Chicago (Dec. 15) and home games against Northern Illinois (Dec. 17) and WNIT participant Illinois (Dec. 21) round out the non-conference schedule.
For the first time in program history Bradley will open Missouri Valley Conference play with three consecutive road games and will play six of the first nine league games away from home. The Braves kick off conference action Dec. 29 at WNIT participant Nothern Iowa and close out the road swing with games at Creighton (Jan. 6) and WNIT participant Drake (Jan. 8).
Bradley closes out the season with six of nine games at home, however, including four of the final five games at Robertson Field House. Home games against NCAA participant Missouri State (Feb. 15) and WNIT teams Indiana State (Jan. 25), Drake (Feb. 3) and Northern Iowa (March 3) to conclude the season highlight the home slate.
Bradley returns six of 12 letterwinners from last season's team, including three starters. The Braves bring back the top five scorers from 2005-06, and six of the top seven in scoring.
