For Starters

    Bradley will play its final of two exhibition games Saturday, Nov. 3 against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.  Saturday's game will mark the first and only exhibition game of the year for SIU-Edwardsville, which will make the move to Division I next season.

    Bradley and SIU-E are meeting in an exhibition game for the third time overall and first since Nov. 12, 2005.  

    Bradley had 11 players in uniform for Wednesday's exhibition opener.  Senior guard Devyn Flanagan and junior Monica Rogers were both out with injuries and are expected to sit out Saturday's final exhibition game.  Freshman Sonya Harris has also been bothered by injuries in the preseason and did not dress for Wednesday's contest.

About Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

    Southern Illinois-Edwardsville is an NCAA Division II school located in the St. Louis are in Edwardsville, Ill.  The Cougars return five letters, including four starters from last year's team that went 20-9 and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament. 

    SIU-E, which is making the transition to Division I next season, is picked to finish second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this season and features four Division I transfers on its roster.

    The Cougars return their top scorers from last season and have a pair of familiar faces on the roster in Illinois State transfer Amber Shelton and Southern Illinois transfer Elyse Morris.  Shelton led SIU-E in scoring last season, averaging 19.4 points per game as a junior.  Morris averaged 6.0 points per game and led the Cougars in assists at 3.4 per contest.  Fellow senior Whitney Sykes averaged 15.8 points per game and already holds the school career record for three-point field goals. 

    The Cougars also have Division I transfers Julie Sweetin (SEMO) and Shardae Butler (Western Kentucky).

About Bradley

    Bradley returns seven of 12 letterwinners, including two starters from last year's team that finished seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 12-19 overall record and 7-11 Valley mark.  The Braves return just one of its top five scorers, however, from last year in senior Devyn Flanagan.

    Flanagan was second on the team in scoring (10.6 ppg), assists (2.9 apg) and steals (1.3 spg) last year.  Junior forward Kelly Krumwiede led the Braves in rebounding at 6.2 boards per game and was sixth on the team in scoring at 7.4 points per game. 

    Bradley boasts eight juniors and seniors, but has just 13 years of Division I experience on the roster.  Junior college transfers Chasity Cotton, Rachel Merriman and Felicia Nekmouche each enter their senior seasons, while Monica Rogers will return to the court after sitting out the 2006-07 following her transfer from Hampton. 

    Saturday's game is the final tune up before the Braves open the 2007-08 season at Northern Illinois (Nov. 9).

SIU-Edwardsville Series

    Bradley will wrap up its exhibition schedule Saturday against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.  Saturday's matchup will be the last time the Braves and Cougars meet in an exhibition game as SIU-E will make the move to Division I next year.  Bradley has won each of the two previous two exhibition games in the all-time series, defeating SIU-Edwardsville 79-54 on Nov. 12, 2005 and again prior to the 2004-05 campaign.  The Braves hold a 10-1 lead in the all-time series (excluding the exhibition meetings) with SIU-E dating back to the 1977-78 season.  The teams split the first two games in the series, before the Braves won the final nine regular-season contests in the series.  Bradley is 8-0 all-time (including exhibition games) against SIU-E in home tilts.

The Coaches

    Paula Buscher (Missouri State, ?86) is in her eighth year at Bradley and has a record of 84-114 (.424) at BU.  Buscher led teams to improved records in each of her first five seasons as a collegiate head coach and seven of her 10 seasons overall.  Buscher owns a 127-152 (.455) career record and is in her 11th year as a collegiate head coach.  She is the second winningest coach in school history and led Bradley to its first MVC Tournament victory since 1996 last season.  A longtime assistant coach at Nebraska-Omaha, Buscher coached Minnesota St.-Mankato during the 1997-98 season and returned to UNO as head coach for the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons, before coming to The Hilltop.

    Wendy Hedberg (Western Illinois ?74) is in her 29th season as head coach at SIU-Edwardsville and has led the Cougars to a 436-339 (.563) record and five NCAA Tournament appearances during her tenure.  Hedberg has led SIU-E to 19 winning seasons, including five 20-win campaigns.  She is in her final year with the Cougars, after announcing she will step down as head coach following the season.

Braves Rally To Down Quincy

    Bradley was shorthanded for its exhibition opener against Quincy, but rallied from behind to pull out a 72-57 victory Wednesday in the team's exhibition opener.  Junior Kelly Krumwiede hit six of seven shots in the second half and scored 14 of her 20 points in the final 20 minutes to help spark the comeback.  Krumwiede finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while freshman Raisa Taylor made 13-of-17 free throw attempts and scored a team-high 21 points off the bench.

Braves Picked 10th In Preseason Poll

    Bradley was picked 10th in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference poll, after finishing seventh in the 2006-07 regular-season race.  The Braves return just one of its top five scorers (Devyn Flanagan) and less than 35 percent of its scoring from last year.  Drake was the preseason favorite and received 24 of a possible 39 first-place votes.  The Braves received 78 points and were 17 points behind Wichita State, which was ninth at 95 points. 

MVC Preseason Poll

Rank  Team (First-Place Votes)................ Points

1.       Drake (24)........................................... 348

2.       Illinois State (12)................................... 342

3.       Indiana State........................................ 289

4.       Evansville (1)...................................... 288

5.       Southern Illinois (1)............................... 233

6.       Creighton (1)....................................... 223

7.       Missouri State...................................... 136

8.       Northern Iowa...................................... 113

9.       Wichita State......................................... 95

10.      Bradley............................................... 78

Red-White Recap

    Bradley made its first public appearance of the 2007-08 last week with the team's annual Red-White scrimmage.  The Braves were shorthanded for the scrimmage with four players sidelined with injuries.  Freshman Raisa Taylor helped the underclassmen steal the show as she scored 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting.  Sophomore forward Jenny Van Kirk added 16 points on 4-of-5 from the field, while sophomore guard Sky Johnson connected on all four of her shots from the field and finished with 11 points and four assists.

Exhibition History

    Bradley has won eight consecutive exhibition games dating back to the Braves trip to Western Europe in the summer of 2004 and is a perfect 7-0 against college teams in exhibition play.  The Braves downed Quincy (72-57) on Wednesday in the exhibition opener and defeated Truman State (56-42) and Quincy (85-43) last year in exhibition contests.  Bradley is 14-6 in exhibition games under eighth-year head coach Paula Buscher, including a 3-2 record during the trip to Europe. 

Season On The Brink

    With a short turnaround between exhibition games, the Braves' season opener is also right around the corner.  Bradley will open its 33rd year of competition on the road with a Nov. 9 game at Northern Illinois.  The Braves open the season on the road for the first time since the 2003-04 season.  Bradley is 19-13 all-time in season openers and have won five of the last six openers.

Up Next

    Bradley will open its 33rd year of intercollegiate competition Friday, Nov. 9 at Northern Illinois.  The Braves are opening the season on the road for the first time since the 2003-04 season.  Bradley is 19-13 all-time in season openers and have won five of the last six.  Northern Illinois holds a 5-3 lead in the all-time series with the Braves which dates back to the 1978-79 season.  Bradley has won three of the last five meetings, but NIU won last season's tilt 85-75 in Peoria, Ill.  The Braves are 1-2 in road games in the series and are making their first trip to DeKalb, Ill., since Dec. 20, 2002.

Field House Finale

    The 2007-08 season will mark the final year for Robertson Memorial Field House.  A new facility, which includes an arena for women's basketball with seating for 4,500 people, and men's basketball practice facility is planned for the current site that Robertson Field House sits on.  The Bradley women's basketball team has posted a 200-163 (.551) record all-time in the facility and have finished .500 or better in 23 of 31 seasons playing in the building.

Braves Pick Up Rare Win At Valley Tournament

    Bradley picked up its second Missouri Valley Conference Tournament victory in program history last season, defeating Missouri State in the first round.  The win, which was the first-ever victory for Bradley as a higher seed, gave the Braves a three-game sweep of a conference foe for the first time in program history.  The Braves only other conference tournament victory was nearly 10 years ago to the day from last year's win, as the Braves defeated Missouri State on their home floor on March 6, 1997.

See You In St. Charles

    While the 2007-08 season will mark the end of an era with the final season of Robertson Memorial Field House, it also marks the beginning of another era for the Missouri Valley Conference.  After 22 years of playing the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at campus sites, the 2007-08 State Farm MVC Women's Basketball Tournament will be the first held at a neutral site.  All 10 teams will advance to this year's tournament that will be held March 13-16 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.  For ticket information, contact the Bradley Athletics Ticket Office at (309) 677-2625.

Putting It In Neutral

    With the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament moving to a neutral site, the Braves will have a few more chances to improve in neutral site games.  Bradley has played a total of 57 games at neutral sites and boast a 28-29 record in those games.  The Braves also face Santa Clara at a neutral site in the first round of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout and could face Cleveland State in the second round in Anchorage, Alaska.

Rare Company

    Senior Devyn Flanagan enters her senior year needing just two assists to join a rather elite group in Bradley history.  With two assists, Flanagan will become the 10th player in program history to record 700 points, 300 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals in a career.  She enters the year with 753 points, 305 rebounds, 198 assists and 108 steals during her time as a Brave.  The only other players in school history to reach those marks in all four categories are Karen Anderson, Shelli Braud, Karin Nicholls, Heather Best, Genny Mueller, Val Wancket, Jen Brown, Erika Grogg and Tammy Van Oppen. 

Crashing The Boards

    Junior Kelly Krumwiede ranked eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference in rebounding last season, hauling down a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game.  She is the 10th player to lead the Braves in rebounding as an underclassmen and the first since Dena Williams led the Braves in rebounding as a sophomore in 2002-03.  Bradley had underclassmen lead the team in rebounding in six of the first 14 years of the program, but have only had four over the past 18 years.  Carrie Coffman led the team in rebounding as a sophomore in 1992-93, averaging 7.8 rebounds per game.  Lynn Pastucha paced the Braves hauling down 6.0 boards per game as a freshman in 1999-2000 in addition to Williams and Krumwiede accomplishing the feat in recent years.  Four of the last five players to lead the team in rebounding as an underclassmen rank as the top four in career rebounding at Bradley (Williams - 799 rebounds, Val Wancket - 788 rebounds, Coffman - 740 and Nicholls - 726).  Pastucha only played her freshman season for the Braves.

2006-07 MVC Rebounding Leaders

Retunees in italics.

Flanagan Climbing Scoring List

    Senior Devyn Flanagan has averaged in double figures in scoring each of the last two years and enters her final season on The Hilltop 28th on Bradley's career scoring list.  Flanagan is the first player to have more than 700 points entering their senior season since Genny Mueller in 2004-05.  In fact all 11 players that scored 700 or more points before their final season reached the 1,000-point mark during their last season as a Brave.  Junior Kelly Krumwiede is second among active players with 394 career points.

Bradley's Career Scoring Leaders