PEORIA, Ill. -- After playing five of the last six on the road, Bradley women's basketball returns to Renaissance Coliseum for six of the next eight games and will open the stretch Friday with a 7 p.m. home matchup against pre-season league favorite Missouri State.
The Braves (4-10 overall, 0-3 MVC) are looking for their first conference victory of the year after dropping a pair of road games last week at Southern Illinois and Evansville. Missouri State (9-7 overall, 2-2 MVC) enters Friday's matchup with a two-game losing skid following a pair of home losses to Drake and Northern Iowa.
Notes | ESPN3 | WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM | Live Stats | Twitter Updates (@BradleySIDLive) | Tickets
Friday's games will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. In addition, BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats along with the WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM (www.1290wirl.com) radio broadcast with Ed Hammond providing play-by-play.
Bradley enters the heavy home stretch with the second fewest home games (6) in the Missouri Valley Conference this season. The Braves, which are 2-2 in their last four home contests, are 3-2 in their last five MVC home outings dating back to last season. Bradley will play seven of the first 11 Valley games at home for the first time since 1996-97.
Sophomore Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) has scored in double figures in four of five career games against teams from the state of Missouri heading into Friday's matchup with the Lady Bears. Schlueter, who averaged 18.0 points per game in the two games with Missouri State in 2014-15 and had a career-best 20 points in Springfield, Mo., last year, has averaged 14.2 points per game in five career games against teams from the Show Me State. In fact, she has shot 46 percent (13-for-28) from three-point range in those five games against teams from Missouri, accounting for almost 25 percent her team-best 54 career three-pointers.
Schlueter's team-high 34 three-pointers this season are tied for the eighth most by a Bradley underclassman and she has made at least one three-pointer in each of the 14 games this year. Her 14 consecutive games with a three-point field goal is the seventh longest streak in school history.
Junior Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn./Chisago Lakes/Washington State) has scored in double figures in three of the last four games, averaging 11.5 points per game during that stretch. The increase in scoring output can be attributed to her ability to get to the free throw line. Over the last four games, Tinjum is 17-for-23 from the line and has scored 37 percent of her points from the charity stripe. She had just one free throw attempt in the five games prior to her recent outburst and scored 22 percent of her 8.8 points per game from the free throw line in the first 10 contests of 2015-16.
Bradley and Missouri State have split the last 10 meetings in Peoria, but the Bears hold a slim 11-9 overall edge in the series during that span.
Following Friday's game against Missouri State, Bradley will close out a two-game home stand Sunday with a 2 p.m. tilt against defending MVC regular-season and tournament champion Wichita State.
