For Starters

    Bradley will play for the first of two exhibition games Sunday, when the Braves play host to Lewis University at Illinois Central College's Lorene Ramsey Gym. 

    The Braves and Flyers have not met since the 1984-85 season and Sunday's contest will be the first time the two programs have played an exhibition game against each other.

About Lewis University

    Lewis is a an NCAA Division II school located in Romeoville, Ill.  The Flyers were 13-13 last season and 9-10 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.  The roster features 10 of 14 letterwinners from last season, including five players who started 16 or more games and the top four scorers from 2007-08.

    Senior guard/forward Kelly Dianis led Lewis in scoring last year at 11.4 points per game, while also leading the squad in minutes played and steals. Sophomore guard/forward Jenny Turpel tossed in 11.2 points per game, while shooting a team-best 42.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc, while senior forward Lauren Martens also scored in double figures (11.1 ppg) and led the Flyers in rebounding at 6.2 boards per contest.

    Lewis was picked to finish fourth in the East Division of the GLVC, which also includes defending NCAA Division II national champion Northern Kentucky.  Sunday's game will be the first of two exhibition games for the Flyers, who will also face Illinois-Chicago Thursday, Nov. 6, in an exhibition game before opening the season Nov. 15 at Lake Superior State.

About Bradley

    Bradley features one of the most experienced rosters in the Missouri Valley Conference, returning eight letterwinners from last year's squad.  The Braves roster includes six of the top seven scorers from 2007-08, but also features eight newcomers (seven freshmen and one sophomore).

    Junior guard Skye Johnson was named the 2007-08 Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and led the team in scoring at 9.5 points per game.  She will take over the primary ball-handling duties in 2008-09 after ranking second on the team with 99 assists (3.3 apg).  Johnson, who led the MVC with 82 steals, was also second on the team with 17 blocked shots and is just the fifth player in program history with 250 points, 75 assists, 75 rebounds and 70 steals in a season.

    Senior Kelly Krumwiede headlines a strong group of front court players.  She averaged 9.4 points and team-best 6.2 rebounds per game as a junior.  She enters the season as the Braves active career leader in scoring and rebounding and needs 181 boards to become the sixth player in program history with 700 career rebounds. 

    Bradley lost two starters to graduation (Devyn Flanagan and Rachel Merriman) but return 72 percent of the team's scoring and better than 70 percent of the team's rebounding from 2007-08.  BU is one of three teams in the Valley to return 70 percent of both its scoring and rebounding. 

    Bradley plays Truman State next Sunday at Carver Arena in the final exhibition game, before opening the regular-season Saturday, Nov. 15 against Loyola at 2:05 p.m. at Lorene Ramsey Gym.

Lewis Series

    Bradley holds a 5-1 edge in the all-time series with Lewis, but the two teams will be meeting for the first time since the 1984-85 season.  Sunday's contest will also mark the first time the two squads meet in an exhibition game. 

    The Braves have claimed each of the last three meetings in the all-time series and boast a 3-1 record in home games against the Flyers.

The Coaches

    Paula Buscher (Missouri State, ?86) is in her ninth year at Bradley and has a record of 96-132 (.421) at BU.  Buscher led teams to improved records in each of her first five seasons as a collegiate head coach and eight of her 1` seasons overall.  Buscher owns a 139-170 (.450) career record and is in her 12th 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.

    Lisa Carlsen (Northwest Missouri State ?92) is in her second season as head coach at Lewis University.  In her first season with the Flyers, her squad posted a 13-13 overall record and went 9-10 in conference play in a league that featured six NCAA Division II Tournament teams and the 2008 Division II national champions.  Her squad posted a win at GLVC regular-season champion Drury and also posted a win against NCAA Division I foe Chicago State in her first year.  Carlsen was associate head coach at Winona State for three years prior to her arrival at Lewis.

Exhibition History

    Bradley has won nine consecutive exhibition games dating back to the Braves trip to Western Europe in the summer of 2004 and boasts a perfect 8-0 record against college teams in exhibition play.  BU topped Quincy (72-57) and SIU-Edwardsville (69-66) last year in exhibition contests.  Bradley is 15-6 in exhibition games under ninth-year head coach Paula Buscher, which includes a 3-2 record during the European exhibition tour.  The Braves have never faced Lewis in an exhibition game and haven't played the Flyers since the 1984-85 season.  Bradley has faced Truman State only once.  That meeting was a 56-42 BU win in an exhibition game prior to the 2006-07 season.

Braves Picked 10th In Preseason Poll

    Bradley was picked eighth in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference poll, after finishing eighth in the 2007-08 regular-season race.  Bradley's roster featured eight of 13 letterwinners from last year, including six of the top seven scorers.  Illinois State was the unanimous choice to win the 2008-09 regular-season crown.  The Braves were five points behind Indiana State for seventh place. 

2008-09 MVC Preseason Poll

Rank Team (First-Place Votes)         Points

1.       Illinois State (40)                               400

2.       Creighton                                          310

3.       Drake                                               297

4.       Evansville                                         251

5.       Northern Iowa                                  245

6.       Missouri State                                   215

7.       Indiana State                                     166

8.       BRADLEY                                        161

9.       Southern Illinois                                108

10.     Wichita State                                        47

Returning Numbers

    Despite losing five letterwinners from last year's team, Bradley boasts one of the more experienced teams in the Missouri Valley Conference heading into the 2008-09 campaign.  The Braves return six of their top seven scorers from last year and are one of just three teams in the league which is returning over 70 percent of both its scoring and rebounding from the previous years.  The only other teams to join BU in that elite company are Northern Iowa and defending regular-season co-champion Illinois State.  The chart below takes a look at the returning numbers for all 10 league members.

Home Sweet Home

    Bradley will play its home games at several different venues during the 2008-09 since Robertson Memorial Field House was razed in May to make room for a new facility which is currently under construction and schedule for completion during the 2009-10 school year.  The Braves closed out Robertson Field House with a 79-63 victory against Northern Iowa in the regular-season finale and won four of the last five games on the historic raised floor to finish with a 209-170 (.551) all-time record at the facility.  Bradley will play the bulk of its games in 2008-09 at Illinois Central College's Lorene Ramsey Gym. 

Freshmen Make Big Impact

    Sophomores Raisa Taylor and Sonya Harris had big impacts during their freshmen seasons.  Taylor averaged 6.6 points per game off the bench and led the team in free throws made and attempted, while Harris averaged 7.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in addition to leading the team in blocked shots (34) and field goal percentage (.555).  Taylor's 62 free throws made were the most by a Bradley freshman since Sarah Sommer made 66 ion 1999-2000 and ranks as the fifth best total by a BU freshman.  Harris was named Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week twice last year and her 34 blocked shots are the most by a BU freshman since Dena Williams turned back 52 shots as a freshman in 2001-02.  After both had slow starts to the year, Taylor averaged 10.4 points and shot 43 percent from the field over the final 13 games of the season, while Harris scored 10.2 per game on 57.6 percent shooting in addition to 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots per game over that same stretch. 

Getting Defensive

    Sophomore Skye Johnson became the first Bradley women's basketball player to earn Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors after leading the league with 82 steals.  The junior also blocked 17 shots to rank second on the team.  Johnson's 82 steals is the second-best season total in program history, behind Kathy Stokes school record 86 thefts in 1979-80.  Johnson is the first Bradley player to lead The Valley in steals in a season and helped the Braves to a league-best 10.8 steals per game.  BU's 324 steals were the most in program history since swiping 365 steals in 1983-84.

STEALS IN A SEASON (INDIVIDUAL)

STEALS IN A SEASON (TEAM)

Krumwiede Joins 600-500 Club

    Senior forward Kelly Krumwiede is the 14th player in

program history to collect 600 points and 500 rebounds in a Bradley uniform, pulling down her 500th career rebound at Evansville last March.  The 36th player in school history to score 600 points, Krumwiede is the Braves active career scoring leader with 645 points and also ranks as the active career leader in rebounding with 519 career boards.  She needs 55 points and 81 rebounds to become just the 10th player with 700 points and 600 rebounds in a career and is just 53 rebounds short of cracking BU's career top 10.

REBOUNDS (CAREER)

Buscher Nears 100 Wins At BU

    Ninth-year Bradley head coach Paula Buscher is closing in on 100 career wins at BU, needing just four victories to become the second head coach in program history to reach the 100-win mark.  Buscher is 96-132 (.421) at Bradley and is second only to Lisa Boyer on the Braves career wins list.  Boyer was 124-149 (.454) as Bradley head coach from 1986-87 through the 1995-96 season.  Buscher's 100th win at Bradley will also mark the 400th win in program history. 

Up Next

    Bradley will play its final exhibition game next Sunday, when Truman State visits for a 1:05 p.m. game at Carver Arena.  The BU-Truman State will kick off a men's and women's basketball doubleheader and will be the only game this season at Carver Arena for the Bradley women's basketball team.  Bradley and Truman State have met just once, in an exhibition game prior to the 2006-07 season.  The Braves won the contest 56-42 at Robertson Memorial Field House.  Current Bradley Director of Operations Marne Fauser was an assistant coach at Truman State when the two teams last met.

Keeping Up With The Braves

    In addition to being the primary source for updated information, stats and notes for the Bradley women's basketball team, the Bradley athletics website (www.bradleybraves.com) will also feature a women's basketball blog throughout the 2008-09 season.  Junior forward Jenny Van Kirk started her blog during the Braves first week of practice and will continue to update her blog during the regular-season.  Questions for Jenny to answer in the blog can be emailed to jrea@bradley.edu

Braves On The Internet

                Bradley women's basketball fans can catch all of this year's home and away games via the internet at www.bradleybraves.com  Free audio will be available for each game in addition to a pay-per-view video stream for all home games and some road contests.