PEORIA, Ill. -- Fresh off the first win in program history against a Southeastern Conference opponent, the Bradley women's basketball team has little time to celebrate as the Braves continue an eight-game home stand with a Tuesday night matchup against in-state foe Western Illinois.
The 7 p.m. game at Renaissance Coliseum between the Braves and Leathernecks is Facebook Fan Apprceciation Night with fans able to receive a voucher for group rate pricing via the Bradley Athletics facebook page. A subscription video stream and links to live stats will be available through the Bradley Athletics website (BradleyBraves.com) along with a stream of the WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM broadcast.
Bradley turned in its best defensive effort of the year Saturday to top visiting Missouri 76-64 for the team's first win of the year and the program's first victory against a team from the SEC. The Braves are 3-1 in home games against “Power Five” Conferences at Renaissance Coliseum, winning each of the last three home matchups with teams from the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC and Pac 12 Conferences.
Western Illinois is 4-4 on the year and has alternated wins and losses over the last six contests after a 67-54 setback at Illinois-Chicago Saturday. Bradley has three common opponents with the Leathernecks with WIU winning at Southeast Missouri State (79-62) and suffering road losses at UIC and Missouri.
The Braves own a 25-12 lead in the all-time series with Western Illinois and have won three of the last four matchups with the Leathernecks. Tuesday's matchup is the fourth in the last five seasons and 14th in the last 19 years between the one-time conference rivals. Bradley is 14-2 at home overall against Western Illinois and the Braves are 8-5 in the series since the Leathernecks joined the Mid-Continent Conference (now Summit League) following the 1991-92 season.
Senior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury), who was named MVC Player of the Week, has climbed 10 spots on Bradley's career scoring list in the last three games and is coming off one of her strongest all-around performances of her career. Young is the only player in the MVC this season with 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals in a game after tallying 24 points, six boards, five assists and six steals in the win against Missouri. She has moved into 24th in career scoring at Bradley with 835 points and has averaged 23.8 points per game over the last four contests.
In addition to the strong play of Young, freshman Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) helped key Bradley's win against Missouri with a season-best 18 points to go with three assists, two blocks and one steal in 30 minutes. Schlueter was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week after hitting 4-of-5 three-point attempts against Mizzou and keying a 16-0 first-half run with a pair of three-pointers and two assists. She is second on the team in scoring at 9.3 points per game and is the only player on the roster to score at least seven points in all seven games this season.
Sophomore Charnelle Reed (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor/Western Illinois) provided a spark off the bench for Bradley against Missouri, tallying nine points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. A transfer from Western Illinois, Reed heads into Tuesday's contest against her former team averaging 10.5 points, 3.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game in her two outings at Renaissance Coliseum.
Tuesday's game is the third game of an eight-game home stand for the Braves, but will be the final outing before finals for Bradley. The Braves will return to action Thursday, Dec. 18 with a special 11 a.m. game against Chicago State.
