PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley women's basketball head coach Paula Buscher and her squad held their first practice of the 2010-11 season Monday. Assistant Director of Athletics Communications Dave Snell caught up with Coach Buscher following the team's first practice of the year and filed the linked story.
The Braves will usher in a new era this year, returning to campus after playing the last two seasons at Illinois Central College's Lorene Ramsey Gym while construction of the Bradley's new $50-million arena was in progress. Despite playing home games off campus the last two seasons, Bradley managed to post an impressive 20-4 record in its games played at Lorene Ramsey and the team's 38 wins over the last two seasons are the most for BU since the 1980-81 and 1981-82 squads combined for a 38-16 (.704) record.
"We are excited to get underway," Buscher said. "Our players have been looking forward to practicing in this beautiful facility for a while and it will be nice to play on campus again. We look forward to our fans helping make our new facility one of the toughest home courts in the country and will be anxiously anticipating the start of the season."
The 2010-11 team features nine of 12 letterwinners from last year's team which capped off a 17-14 season with the first postseason appearance in program history and tied the school record for conference wins with 12. The Braves tied for third in the 2009-10 league race, matching the best conference finish in program history, and the team's 23 Missouri Valley Conference victories over the last two seasons is the third best total in the league over that time.
Bradley posted a 69-59 win against Louisville in the opening round of the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitational at Freedom Hall in the final home contest for any Louisville program in the historic venue. The Cardinals, which were a year removed from a national runner-up finish in the 2008-09 NCAA Tournament, were a combined 129-23 (.849) at Freedom Hall over the final 13 years in the facility.
Leading the way for Bradley is sophomore guard Katie Yohn (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward), who led the team with a 10.2 points per game average and was the first freshman to lead the team in scoring since Connie Griffith in 1977-78. Raisa Taylor (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) is the only senior on the roster for the Braves and was second on the team in scoring in 2009-10 at 9.7 points per outing. Taylor led the team in both assists (2.3 apg) and steals (1.5 spg) and heads into her final year on The Hilltop as the team's active career scoring leader with 740 career points.
Fans will have their first chance to see the 2010-11 Bradley women's basketball team at the Hoopla on The Hilltop, Friday, Oct. 15. The hour-long Midnight Madness-style event will be held in the University's new on-campus arena and will include spotlighted introductions of the 2010-11 basketball teams, a halfcourt shot for $10,000 for a lucky contestant and games involving the current players and fans. Tickets for the event are $5 for the general public and free for Bradley University students, faculty and staff.
Other preseason events include the return of the Red-White Scrimmage on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m.. The Braves will play Quincy on Monday, Nov. 1 in the first of two exhibition games and welcome defending NCAA Division III national champion Washington (Mo.) Saturday, Nov. 6 for a 2:05 p.m. exhibition contest.
The first regular-season contest in Bradley's new arena is slated for Saturday, Nov. 13, when Bradley welcomes 2010 WNIT participant Butler for a 2:05 p.m. game in the 2010-11 regular-season opener. Former BU women's basketball standout Heather Best will be inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame at halftime of the season opener against the Bulldogs.
Season tickets for the 2010-11 women's basketball campaign are $75 for the general public and $30 for Bradley faculty and staff and currently available for purchase at the new arena Box Office (1601 W. Main Street).
Bradley announced a Personal Seat Option ticket plan for all events in the new arena in May and a maximum 500 seats in the plan. Individual PSO's in the arena's main seating bowl are available for $500 each, while PSO Gold seats on the arena floor are available for $1,000 each. A PSO, which includes women's basketball and volleyball season tickets, allows the owner the opportunity to purchase tickets for all events, excluding commencement ceremonies, in the new arena from Aug. 1, 2010 through July 31, 2011 in the same seats. In addition to the volleyball and women's basketball games, events available in the PSO plan to date include the Midnight Madness basketball event Oct. 15, Jay Leno's Oct. 16 Homecoming performance, the Oct. 24 Red-White Scrimmage and the Nov. 6 men's basketball exhibition versus Quincy.
