PEORIA, Ill. -- After playing five of the last seven games on the road, the Bradley women's basketball team returns to Renaissance Coliseum to play four of the last six regular-season games at home beginning Thursday with a 6 p.m. contest against Drake. Thursday will be CEFCU Family Fun Night with 50 lucky fans winning a board game.
The Braves (10-13 overall, 4-8 MVC) look to avenge a 66-62 road loss to the Bulldogs suffered back on Jan. 25 in Des Moines, Iowa, and enter the game in seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. Drake (8-16 overall, 3-10) has won three of its last seven games and is one-and-a-half games behind BU in the standings in ninth.
In the first meeting of the year, Bradley erased an 18-point first-half deficit to pull even in the closing minutes of the game before Drake scored the final four points of the contest to edge the Braves 66-62. The four-point loss on Jan. 25 was the final of a four-game stretch for BU which featured a final margin of four points or less.
Thursday's game will be televised on Mediacom's MC-22 in available markets, airing on a tape-delayed basis on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 10 p.m. BradleyBraves.com will provide a subscription video stream in addition to links for a free audio stream and live stats.
Bradley has won three of its last five games overall and three of the last four home games heading into Thursday's contest. The Braves have held six of the last eight home opponents to 64 points or less (61.5 points per game) and BU is 6-3 in games played at Renaissance Coliseum this year.
Des Moines, Iowa, native Shronda Butts (Des Moines, Iowa/East) scored 29 points in the last meeting with Drake in her hometown and has averaged 16.7 points per game in three all-time meetings with the Bulldogs. She needs seven assists to become the third player in program history to collect 500 career points and 150 assists as a sophomore.
Senior Katie Yohn (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) has helped lead Bradley's defensive efforts of late, which have limited the last five opponents to 63.2 points per outing, by averaging 3.0 steals per game in the last seven games. She has collected 21 of her team-best 42 steals in the last seven games and needs one block to become the third player in school history with 230 points, 140 rebounds, 25 three-pointers, 50 assists, 20 blocks and 40 steals in a season.
Junior Catie O'Leary (Janesville, Wis./Parker/Wisconsin) ranks 22nd in the country in free throw percentage through games of Feb. 17, having made 95-of-110 free throw attempts this season. O'Leary is five made free throws from breaking into the top 10 season totals in school history and her 95 made free throws are the most by a non-senior at Bradley since Carol Baresch had a school record 158 free throws as a junior in 1988-89.
An 86.4 percent free throw shooter on the year, O'Leary has a chance to become just the fourth player in school history to have at least 100 free throw attempts and shoot 80 percent or better from the line.
Following Thursday's game, Bradley closes out a two-game home stand Saturday with a 2 p.m. game against pre-season MVC favorite Creighton in the squad's annual "pink" game. For more information on the "Go Pink, Go Bradley" promotion visit - http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19329&SPID=1498&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=206195662
