PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball team will make the third international trip in program history as the Braves head south of the border for the Cancun Thanksgiving Classic in Cancun, Mexico. Bradley opens play Friday with a 4 p.m. game against William & Mary and closes out action Saturday at 6:15 p.m. against Pac-10 opponent Arizona at the Cuchil Baxil Gymnasium.
Both matchups feature first-time opponents for the Braves, who will play a Colonial Athletic Association team for the first time since 1998-99 and a Pac-10 team for the second consecutive year. Bradley's last trip outside of the United States was a summer exhibition tour of Western Europe in 2004. The Braves only previous regular-season games played outside the country came in 1989-90 when BU opened the season with three games at the Aruba Sunshine Classic.
Bradley closed out a stretch of four consecutive games against postseason teams Monday with a 77-72 victory at Eastern Illinois. Senior Raisa Taylor (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) paced the Braves with a season-high 22 points and also had five assists and four rebounds in the victory. Juniors Hanna Muegge (Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins) and MacKenzie Westcott (Williamsburg, Iowa/Williamsburg) each added 14 points, with Westcott also contributing eight rebounds and a career-best four steals.
William & Mary is 0-3 on the year, opening the season with three consecutive road losses at Wisconsin, Davidson and Wake Forest. Junior guard Taysha Pey is the Tribe's top scorer at 14.0 points per game. Bradley is 1-1 all-time against teams from the CAA, with both previous meetings coming at neutral sites. The Braves fell to Old Dominion in Aruba in 1989-90 and posted a 94-87 win against Delaware in Minneapolis during the 1998-99 season.
Arizona is 4-0 on the season heading into a Friday night matchup with #8 Texas A&M in Cancun. The Wildcats opened the season with an overtime victory at Wichita State and also have wins against Northern Arizona, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and at Mississippi. Bradley is 1-1 against Pac-10 Conference teams after suffering a loss to Washington State last year at the Lady Rebel Round-Up in Las Vegas. The Braves victory against a Pac-10 team was in 1996-97 at Arizona State in the title game of the Sun Devil Classic.
The games are the second and third of a season-long, four-game road swing which wraps up Wednesday, Dec. 1 at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Live stats for both games will be available at the links provided above. Video streaming is available at www.deportesquintanaroo.tv
