PEORIA, Ill. -- Renaissance Coliseum will host its first regionally televised event Friday when the Bradley women's basketball team welcomes Southern Illinois for a 7:05 p.m. game which will be televised as part of the Missouri Valley Conference television network. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports Kansas City and Fox College Sports.
Friday's game is BU's first appearance on the Valley's television package since the March 14, 2009 State Farm MVC Tournament semifinal against Evansville and is the first regular-season appearance for the Braves since a Jan. 23, 2009 game at Drake. The game against the Salukis will also mark the first regionally televised home game for Bradley since a Jan. 15, 2006 game against I-74 rival Illinois State from Robertson Memorial Field House.
Bradley (8-9 overall, 1-5 MVC) is looking to end a three-game losing streak after a 58-73 loss at Creighton Saturday. Friday's contest against the Salukis will be the 59th all-time meeting between Bradley and SIU. While Southern Illinois holds a 41-17 lead in the all-time series, BU has won four consecutive games against the Salukis and six of the last seven overall. The Braves are 15-6 vs. SIU under head coach Paula Buscher, which includes a 7-2 record in BU's last nine home games in the series.
Senior Raisa Taylor (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) has had a great deal of success against the Salukis over her career, including a career-high 28 points in Carbondale, Ill., her freshman year. Taylor has averaged 13.0 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the field in seven career games against SIU. Her 91 career points against the Salukis is the sixth best career total by a Bradley player in the all-time series and she needs nine points to become just the third Brave to score 100 career points against SIU.
Sophomore guard Katie Yohn (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) is averaging a team-leading 13.4 points per game and scored the 500th point of her career last Thursday at Drake. Yohn is the first Bradley player since Genny Mueller in 2002-03 and 12th player in program history to score 500 points before the start of their junior season.
Junior MacKenzie Westcott (Williamsburg, Iowa/Williamsburg) made 8-of-12 shots Saturday against Creighton and scored a career-high 18 points against the Bluejays. After averaging 6.9 points on 40.3 percent shooting and 6.2 rebounds per game in non-conference play, Westcott has improved to 8.3 points and 6.8 boards while shooting 45 percent from the field in Valley action.
Southern Illinois (2-14 overall, 0-5 MVC) is playing its fourth Missouri Valley Conference road game Friday and will open league play with five of the first seven conference games on the road. The Salukis have lost six straight after a 79-45 loss at Evansville last weekend and are 1-7 on the road this season. Sophomore guard Teri Oliver is one of two returning starters for SIU and leads the team in scoring with a 10.5 points-per-game average.
Live stats for Friday's game will be available at www.BradleyBraves.com along with a free audio stream available at the Live Event Schedule link on the Bradley Athletics website.
Individual tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for children (K-12) and Bradley faculty and staff. For more information please call (309) 677-2625. Free parking is available for all Bradley women's basketball home games at the Main Street Parking Deck located just west of Renaissance Coliseum at the corners of Main Street & Maplewood.
