PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball team puts its seven-game road win streak on the line Thursday when the Braves face Southern Illinois (7 p.m.) in Carbondale, Ill., in the first conference road game of the season. BU will close out the two-game Valley road swing Sunday at 1 p.m. against Evansville in the team's first trip to the Ford Center.
Bradley (9-5 overall, 0-2 MVC) wrapped up a season-long, four-game home stand with a 71-58 loss to Wichita State on New Year's Eve and is coming off back-to-back setbacks for the first time this season. Thursday's game at Southern Illinois will be the Braves first road game since posting a 66-60 win at SIU Edwardsville back on Dec. 6.
The win at SIUE extended BU's road win streak to a program record seven straight wins. The current road win streak started last year with a 66-59 victory at Evansville on Feb. 17, 2011. Only five teams in the country have more true road wins than Bradley's five, according the NCAA's latest RPI report through games of Jan. 1. Louisville leads the nation with seven road victories, while Florida A&M, Princeton, St. Bonaventure and Villanova are tied for second with six road wins.
In addition to marking the halfway point of the regular season, thursday's game at Southern Illinois also kicks off a month in which the Braves will play five of seven games away from home. Bradley will follow up the heavy road slate with five of seven games in February at Renaissance Coliseum, before concluding the regular season with road games at Wichita State (March 1) and at Missouri State (March 3).
Southern Illinois (3-9 overall, 0-2 MVC) is also looking for its first conference victory after suffering road losses at Illinois State and Indiana State last week. The Salukis closed out a five-game road swing with a 66-72 loss at Indiana State and will be playing a home game for the first time since defeating IUPUI 77-63 at SIU Arena on Dec. 8.
Evansville (3-10 overall, 0-2 MVC) is also winless in Valley play after road setbacks at Indiana State and Illinois State to open league play and will face defending MVC champion Northern Iowa Thursday in the team's first-ever conference game at the Ford Center. The Purple Aces have dropped four straight road games since their last home contest; a convincing 78-48 victory against Murray State on Dec. 10.
Senior Leah Kassing (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) is averaging 14.1 points and 10.4 rebounds over the last seven contests, turning in six double-doubles during that stretch. Tied for the Missouri Valley Conference lead with seven double-doubles this year, Kassing is the first BU player with four consecutive double-doubles since Carrie Coffman had nine straight in 1994-95.
Both games will be broadcast in the Peoria area on WIRL 1290 AM. Live stats will be available at BradleyBraves.com in addition to a free audio stream. Subscription video streams are available through the Southern Illinois and Evansville websites.
Following the road swing, Bradley returns to Renaissance Coliseum Thursday, Jan. 12 to host I-74 rival Illinois State at 7 p.m.
