PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball team opens the second half of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season schedule on the road, playing at league-leading Wichita State Friday (7 p.m.) before traveling to Springfield, Mo., for a Sunday afternoon matchup with Missouri State (2 p.m.).
The Braves (5-15 overall, 2-7 MVC) are coming off one of their best defensive efforts of the season, after topping I-74 rival Illinois State 64-62 Sunday at Renaissance Coliseum. Bradley is the only team in the conference to manage at least a split of the Wichita State-Missouri State road swing each of the last three seasons and the Braves have won at least one game in Wichita, Kan., or Springfield, Mo., in four of the last five years.
For the second consecutive year the Braves have a chance to hand Wichita State (18-2 overall, 9-0 MVC) its first league loss of the season at Charles Koch Arena. Last year, Bradley ended the longest win streak in Wichita State history (10 games) with a 75-55 win in Wichita, Kan., after the Shockers had opened Valley play with a 10-0 record. This season, Wichita State enters the game with a program record 17-game win streak and a perfect 9-0 league mark.
Missouri State (10-10 overall, 5-4 MVC) is tied with Loyola for fourth in the Valley standings at 5-4 heading into a Friday night matchup with the Ramblers at JQH Arena. Bradley is a combined 6-4 on the road against Missouri State and Wichita State since the start of the 2008-09 season, owning a 3-2 road mark against each squad. The rest of the MVC has combined for a 20-58 (.256) record on the Missouri State-Wichita State road swing during that span and Illinois State is the only team to have more than four road wins with five.
Friday's game at Wichita State will be available at ESPN3 and both contests will air in the Peoria area on WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both matchups.
Senior Kelsey Budd (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) dished out her 300th career assist Sunday against Illinois State and needs just two assists to climb into ninth in school history. Budd has averaged 4.8 assists per game over the last nine outings and is averaging 11.6 points, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game since returning from an injury which sidelined her for three games.
Fellow senior Alyson Spinas-Valainis (Davenport, Iowa/Assumption) helped lead Bradley's defensive efforts with career highs of three blocked shots and 11 rebounds in the win against the Redbirds. Spinas-Valainis missed the Jan. 24 game at Northern Iowa because of an injury, but has been a factor in the three games since the contest in Cedar Falls, Iowa; averaging 9.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and nearly two assists per game since returning to the lineup. She has also averaged 7.7 free throw attempts during that stretch.
This season, Spinas-Valainis has nearly matched her career scoring and rebounding totals. The 6-3 center is fourth on the squad in assists with 20 after dishing out a total of 10 assists in her first three years.
Junior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) leads the MVC in free throws made (100) and attempted (134). The 12th player in school history to make 100 free throws or more in a season, Young's total is tied for 10th among Bradley season marks and she needs just 12 makes from the charity stripe to push her season total into the top seven in program history.
Following the road swing, Bradley finishes out the regular season with five of the last seven games at Renaissance Coliseum. The Braves will open a season-long, three-game home stand Feb. 15 against Loyola (2 p.m.).
