PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball team opens the Missouri Valley Tournament Thursday at 4 p.m., facing Valley newcomer Loyola in the opening round at The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.
The Braves (8-21 overall, 5-13 MVC) enter Thursday's matchup with the Ramblers (10-20 overall, 6-12 MVC) coming off a convincing 86-68 victory against Southern Illinois to wrap up the regular season and have won two of their last four games heading into the conference tournament.
Loyola finished eighth in the regular-season Valley race in its first year in the league, after opening MVC play with a 5-4 mark. Thursday's matchup will be the 29th meeting between the two in-state foes, but the first neutral site contest in the series since Bradley won 83-62 on Feb. 29, 1980 in Charleston, Ill. The Braves lead the series with Loyola 17-11 and the Braves have won 12 of the last 14 against the Ramblers.
The winner of Thursday's opening round game between #8 seed Loyola and #9 Bradley will advance to Friday's noon quarterfinal game against #1 seed and MVC regular-season co-champion Indiana State. The other half of Bradley's side of the bracket includes #4 seed Evansville and #5 Drake, who will square off Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
A free video stream of the opening round and quarterfinals will be available at http://www.valley-live.tv/ and Bradley's first two games will be broadcast in the Peoria area on WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM. Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's championship will be televised on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX College Sports and Comcast SportsNet Chicago in addition to being available on ESPN3 outside the league's five-state footprint of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. WMBD 1470 AM/100.3 FM will air the semifinals and championship in Peoria should the Braves advance.
Bradley enters the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament off a victory for the fourth time in the last five years and fifth time in the last seven years overall. The Braves have won a game in the Valley Tournament each of the last two times they ended the regular season with a win.
Junior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) earned honorable mention All-MVC honors announced Wednesday and has scored in double figures in three consecutive games heading into the league tournament. Over the last three games of the regular season, Young averaged 17.0 points per game on 67.9 percent shooting and made 12-of-15 free throws. Her 414 points scored rank as the 12th highest point total by a Bradley player prior to their senior year and her league-best 130 made free throws are the fourth-best season total in school history.
Senior Catie O'Leary (Janesville, Wis./Parker/Wisconsin) is the only player in the MVC with 300 points, 200 rebounds and 50 assists this season. She is the first Bradley player to reach those marks since 1994-95 and is the only player in school history with back-to-back seasons with 200 points, 200 boards and 50 assists after collecting 19 points against Southern Illinois Saturday.
Fellow senior Kelsey Budd (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) matched a season-high with eight assists against the Salukis Saturday in the final home game of her career and needs just two points to become just third Brave in the last 20 years to collect 300 points, 100 rebounds, 100 assists and 40 or more steals in a season. Budd moved into seventh in career assists at Bradley with her 336th Saturday to pass Heather Best and needs three assists to take over sixth in school history.
Saturday's semifinals are slated to tip at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday's championship will start at 2 p.m.
