PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball team continues a three-game Missouri Valley Conference road swing Friday at I-74 rival Illinois State (7 p.m.) and closes the stretch Sunday with a 2 p.m. contest at Southern Illinois to wrap up the first half of the regular-season MVC schedule.
The Braves are shooting for back-to-back road wins for the first time since winning the final two true road games of the 2012-13 season and the first road game of the 2013-14 campaign. Friday's game at Illinois State will be televised on ESPN3 with Laura Leonard and Brenda VanLengen calling the action from Redbird Arena.
A subscription video stream of Sunday's game at Southern Illinois will be available at SIUSalukis.com, while BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for both contests.
Bradley is one game ahead of Illinois State in the MVC standings after picking up a 46-45 victory at Loyola Sunday to open the three-game road swing. The Braves are one game behind Southern Illinois, which will host Loyola Friday night at SIU Arena.
A sweep of the regular-season series vs. Illinois State last year gave Bradley its first road win in the series with the Redbirds since 2002-03. The Braves are trying for back-to-back road wins against Illinois State for the first time since winning four straight between the 1991-92 and 1994-95 campaigns. Bradley has won three of the last four matchups with the Redbirds.
The home team won each matchup in the series last year between Bradley and Southern Illinois, but the Braves have won 12 of the last 13 against the Salukis. Bradley has claimed six of the last seven games in Carbondale, Ill., and 11 of the last 14 road games in the series.
The Braves will play three consecutive games against in-state opponents in the same season for the first time since a four-game stretch in 2010-11 and Bradley will have a road swing of three games or more against in-state foes for the first time since 2003-04.
Sunday's 46-45 victory at Loyola was the lowest scoring regular-season Missouri Valley Conference game since Indiana State topped Illinois State 47-44 on Jan. 12, 2014 and Bradley's 46 points were the fewest in a win in regular-season conference play since Creighton defeated Evansville 42-41 on Feb. 13, 2010. The Braves earned just their fifth victory in program history when scoring 50 points or less. The victory was the first for Bradley with 50 points or fewer since a 50-32 win at Illinois State on Feb. 21, 1979.
Sunday's matchup at Southern Illinois marks the fifth time in seven years and eighth time in program history the Braves will play on Super Bowl Sunday. Bradley is 4-3 all-time when playing on the same day as the Super Bowl after a 64-62 home victory against Illinois State last year. The Braves are 2-2 on the road on Super Bowl Sunday, with the last road win coming at Southern Illinois on Feb. 7, 2010.
Bradley is tied for second in blocks per game in MVC play at 4.4 rejections per contest with freshman Tamya Sims (Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek) averaging a league-best 2.3 blocks in conference play. Sims, who ranks second in the MVC this year with 23 blocks in 10 games, has the fifth-best block total by a Bradley freshman and most by a frosh on The Hilltop since Sonya Harris had 34 in 2007-08. Her four blocks Sunday at Loyola were the most by a Bradley player since MacKenzie Westcott had five rejections at UNI on Jan. 20, 2012.
The Braves open the second half of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule Friday, Feb. 6 with a 7 p.m. game against Indiana State at Renaissance Coliseum.
