PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's basketball has won two of three games and is 5-5 in its last 10 games heading into the final road trip of the 2014-15 regular season as the Braves close out the Missouri Valley Conference schedule with games at Drake (Thursday) and at Northern Iowa (Saturday).
Bradley travels to Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday for a 7 p.m. matchup with Drake, which is second in the Valley standings with a 13-3 mark. The Braves then head to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for a 2 p.m. game Saturday afternoon at Northern Iowa, which is fourth in the MVC at 10-6 heading into a Thursday night home game against Loyola.
With two games to play, Bradley can be no lower than the #8 seed for next week's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Charles, Mo., and could climb as high as the #7 seed.
The Braves are one of the best squads in the Valley at guarding against the three-pointer, ranking second in the league in opponent three-point field goal percentage at 29.8 percent. Both matchups this week will put Bradley to the test, however, as UNI and Drake rank first and second in three-point field goals per game. The Panthers make 8.5 three's per game and shoot 34 percent from three-point range as a team. Drake is the top offensive team in the MVC, scoring 76.0 points per game and connects on eight shots from beyond the arc per contest.
Links to live stats will be available at BradleyBraves.com and Bradley All-Access subscribers will be able to access streams for both games. WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM will carry Thursday's game at Drake, while Saturday's outing at UNI will be available in the Peoria area on WMBD 1470 AM/100.3 FM.
Sunday's win against I-74 rival Illinois State gave Bradley four consecutive wins in the series with the Redbirds and second straight season sweep. The victory was the third for the Braves since hitting the halfway point of the MVC schedule and guaranteed Bradley a better record in the second half of the league schedule compared to the first for the fifth consecutive year.
Senior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) moved into 14th on Bradley's career scoring list with an 11-point effort Sunday in the victory against Illinois State. The fourth player in school history to have 50 or more steals in three different seasons, Young is 14 points from passing Val Wancket for 13th in career scoring at Bradley. She is seventh in career free throws made with 267 and needs two steals to break into the career top 10 on The Hilltop.
Freshman Tamya Sims (Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek) collected her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Redbirds Sunday. Sims has averaged 10.2 points and 7.8 rebounds in her last five outings and has the most blocks by a Bradley freshman since Dena Williams tallied 52 rejections in 2001-02. With at least three games remaining, Sims needs one more block for the most in a season by a Brave since Sonya Harris had 62 blocks in 2009-10 on her way to earning MVC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Sims hasn't been the only freshman making an impact lately, with freshman Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) scoring in double figures in each of the last two games and three of the last six contests. After not scoring in four consecutive games, Brewer has averaged 7.2 points and 1.2 assists per game in the last six. She is tied for the team lead with 19 three-pointers.
Sophomore Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) is one of four Iowa natives on the roster for the Braves and has averaged 6.7 rebounds per game against Drake and Northern Iowa in her career. Lerma, who is averaging 7.5 boards per outing in Valley play this year, has pulled down 7.8 rebounds per game in her last 12 contests.
