PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball team will face Big Ten Conference foe Illinois Friday at 11 a.m. in the season opener as the Braves welcome approximately 1,700 students for “Field Trip Day” at Renaissance Coliseum.
The Nov. 8 contest, marks the earliest season opener in program history for the Braves, who posted a 74-50 victory against Illinois-Springfield Friday in the team's only exhibition game. Bradley has won two of the last four meetings with the Illini, including last season's 83-77 victory in Champaign, Ill., and the Braves have won three of the last seven overall in the series with the Illini.
Illinois was 19-14 in 2012-13 and tied for fifth in the Big Ten standings last season. The Illini return three starters from a team which advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2012-13 Women's NIT and ranked fifth in the nation in steals.
BradleyBraves.com will provide a subscription video stream in addition to live stats for the season-opening contest. WIRL 1290 AM and 102.7 FM will carry every game for the Braves during the 2013-14 season. Season tickets are $75 for adults and $30 for children (ages 14 or younger) and available at the Renaissance Coliseum ticket office. Single-game ticket prices are $8 for adults and $4 for children.
The Braves are opening the year at home for the fourth consecutive season and eighth time in the last 10 campaigns, with Friday's tilt marking the first time Bradley will face a Big Ten team to open a season since kicking off the 1985-86 season at Iowa.
In fact, the Braves will play a team from a current Bowl Championship Series Conference in their season opener for the first time since hosting Missouri in the first game of the 1999-2000 campaign. Bradley is 27-11 (.711) in home openers and had a six-game win streak in home openers snapped last season against Central Michigan.
Last year, the Braves were 4-1 against in-state non-conference opponents and BU is 7-1 in the last eight matchups against non-conference squads from the state of Illinois. Bradley is 10-2 against in-state non-conference foes since the last time the Illini played at Renaissance Coliseum on Nov. 19, 2010. Over the last six seasons, the Braves are 20-8 (.714) against non-league teams from the Land of Lincoln, which includes an 11-2 (.846) home mark.
Junior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the second half of Bradley's exhibition victory against Illinois-Springfield and helped key an impressive 23-3 second-half run which put the contest out of reach.
In last season's victory at Illinois, senior Catie O'Leary (Janesville, Wis./Parker/Wisconsin) had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds in addition to dishing out four assists to help pace a balanced Bradley attack, which featured five players in double figures. Fellow senior Kelsey Budd (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) added 14 points in the victory, while sophomore Jenny Smith (Pewaukee, Wis./Arrowhead) had 13 points off the bench. Senior Kelly Frings (Milwaukee, Wis./Piux XI) was also in double figures with 11 points and contributed five rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Bradley will follow up Friday's season opener against Illinois with the first road game of the season. The Braves head to Cape Girardeau, Mo., Monday for a 5:30 p.m. matchup at Southeast Missouri State.
