PEORIA, Ill. – The Bradley women's basketball team will close the second longest home stand in Missouri Valley Conference history Sunday when the Braves host Drake in a 2 p.m. contest at Renaissance Coliseum.
The Braves had the third latest home opener in the Valley this season, but have played the second most home games through Friday (7) and will close out a school record eight-game home stand against the Bulldogs. The eight-game home stand is the second longest in league history, behind a nine-game home stand by Northern Iowa during the 1984-85 season.
Bradley will try to end a five-game losing skid after falling to Northern Iowa 70-51 Friday in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams.
A subscription video stream for Sunday's game will be available at BradleyBraves.com along with links to live stats and an audio stream of the WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM broadcast.
Sunday's game will be “We Back Pat” Day to help raise awareness of Alzheimer's.
For the first time this season, Bradley had its entire roster in uniform with senior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) returning to the lineup after missing Tuesday's game against Northern Illinois due to illness and freshman Haley Van Cleave (Dubuque, Iowa/Hampstead) dressing for Friday's game after missing the NIU contest due to injury.
Sophomore Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn./Chisago Lakes/Washington State) continues to impress, leading the team with 13 points Friday against Northern Iowa. Tinjum, who is averaging nearly nine free throw attempts per game, became the sixth player in program history and first since 1993-94 to score in double figures in their first four games on The Hilltop. She is averaging 16.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in her four games.
Freshman Tamya Sims (Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek) returned to the starting lineup Friday and added 11 points. She is collecting 8.8 points per contest and leads the team in blocks (8) despite playing just four games this season.
Following Sunday's matchup with Drake, Bradley will play five of the next seven games on the road. The Braves open the road-heavy stretch Friday with a 6 p.m. (CST) game at Indiana State.
