PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball team closes out a three-game Missouri Valley Conference road swing with games at Drake (Friday) and at Creighton (Sunday) as the Braves conclude the first half of the Valley regular-season slate.
Bradley (11-8 overall, 2-5 MVC) opened the three-game road swing with a 57-71 setback at defending MVC regular-season champ Northern Iowa last Friday and look to improve on the team's 6-2 road record.
Senior Leah Kassing (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) turned in her team-best ninth double-double (15 points & 10 rebounds) of the year against UNI, while sophomore guard Kelsey Budd (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) had 12 points and career-best 10 rebounds against the Panthers for her first career double-double.
BradleyBraves.com will feature video (subscription) and audio (free) streams in addition to links to live stats for both contests.
Friday's matchup will feature the two best rebounding teams in the conference. Drake (10-8 overall, 4-3 MVC) leads the Valley in rebounding margin (+5.9 per game) with Bradley second in the league in the same category at (+4.7). The Bulldogs are led by senior forward Rachael Hackbarth, who leads the MVC in scoring (18.9 ppg) and rebounding (10.7 rpg).
Drake has won three of its last four games heading into Friday's 7 p.m. game at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The Bulldogs have won six consecutive home games since suffering a 64-71 loss to Iowa State in the team's home opener and rank third in the MVC in scoring defense (59.7 points per game).
Following Friday's contest, the Braves travel to Omaha, Neb., for a 2 p.m. game against Creighton (9-9 overall, 3-4 MVC) Sunday at D.J. Sokol Arena. The Bluejays have also won three of their last four games heading into a Friday night home matchup with Northern Iowa. Creighton is averaging 6.4 three-pointers per game and has held opponents to 58.9 points per game.
The three-game road swing wraps up the first half of Valley play for the Braves and also ends a month in which BU will have played five of seven games away from home. Bradley plays five of seven games in February at Renaissance Coliseum beginning with next Thursday's (Feb. 2) 7 p.m. home tilt with Evansville and will play just one game in the month of February outside the state of Illinois.
Kassing's double-double against Northern Iowa, marked her ninth consecutive game scoring in double figures. She is the first BU player to score 10 or more points in nine straight games since Monica Rogers in 2008-09 and is just the 10th BU player in the last 20 years to have a streak of nine consecutive games or more.
