PEORIA, Ill. -- After closing out a three-game home stand with a convincing 87-47 victory over Eureka Saturday, the Bradley Women's Basketball team opens the month of December with a road game at Chicago State Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center in Chicago, Ill.
The Braves (2-3 overall) play four of the six games in the month of December on the road starting with Wednesday's contest at Chicago State, which will be available on the WAC Digital Network. Bradley is looking to avenge a 62-59 home setback to the Cougars from last December.
Notes | WAC Digital Network | WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM | Live Stats | Twitter Updates (@BradleySIDLive)
BradleyBraves.com will provide links to the WAC Digital Network broadcast in addition to live stats for the matchup with Chicago State (1-5 overall). Ed Hammond will provide play-by-play on the WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM radio broadcast in the Peoria area.
Trips to Chicago are nothing new for Bradley with the Braves playing a non-conference game in the Windy City for the ninth time in the last 15 seasons and 20th time in the last 33 years. Bradley is 12-6 in the last 18 non-conference games played in the Second City and owns a 26-16 (.619) all-time record in Chicago.
Wednesday's game at Chicago State will mark just the second road game in the last 20 years in the series for the Braves, who also played at the Convocation Center the year it opened in 2007-08. Bradley owns a 12-1 lead in the all-time series which dates back to the 1979-80 campaign and the Braves bring a perfect 5-0 series road record into this season's matchup. Seven of Bradley's last 12 road victories have been at in-state opponents.
Saturday's 87-47 victory against Eureka was highlighted by one of the best defensive efforts in some time for Bradley. The Braves scored 35 of the final 37 points in the outing and held the Red Devils to just 13 second-half points to tie the program record for fewest points given up in a half. The 40-point victory was the largest for Bradley since a 90-48 win over Southern Illinois on Feb. 2, 2012 and the +26 rebounding advantage by the Braves was the team's best performance since March 1, 1995 vs. Saint Louis.
Junior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) has averaged 10.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game off the bench in the last four games after she tallied 19 points, 13 rebounds and five steals Saturday against Eureka. The last Brave with 19 points, 13 rebounds and at least five steals in a game was Eileen Yerkes on Nov. 25, 1991 in a double overtime win against Loyola.
Sophomore Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) matched a career-best with four three-pointers last time out and is shooting 44.4 percent from beyond the arc (8-for-18) over the last three games. The first Brave to hit a three-pointer in the first five games of a season since Michelle Lund in 2008-09, Schlueter is already over halfway to her season three-point field goal total from 2014-15 and is the first Bradley individual with 11 or more triples through five games since Katie Yohn in 2009-10.
Wednesday's contest kicks off the busiest December for the Braves since 2011-12 and Bradley will play as many as six non-conference games in the final month of the calendar year for the first time since 2002-03.
Following the road tilt, Bradley returns to Renaissance Coliseum for the final two home non-conference games of the year. The Braves host Illinois-Chicago Saturday at 1 p.m. before facing Kent State Tuesday, Dec. 8 (7 p.m.) in the final home game before the start of Missouri Valley Conference play.
