PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley women's basketball will have a chance to move a full game ahead of I-74 rival Illinois State Friday when the Braves kick off a two-game Missouri Valley Conference road swing with a 7 p.m. game against the Redbirds in Normal, Ill., and will close out the road trip Sunday with an 11 a.m. (CST) contest at Indiana State. 

A 50-44 home win against defending MVC champion Wichita State Sunday afternoon was the first conference win of the year for Bradley (5-11 overall, 1-4 MVC), which is tied with Illinois State (3-13 overall, 1-4 MVC) and Evansville for seventh in the league standings heading into Friday's matchup with the Redbirds.

Notes | ESPN3 | WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM | Live Stats | Twitter Updates (@BradleySIDLive)

Both 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. 

The Braves will try to snap a six-game road losing streak which dates back to a Dec. 2 win at Chicago State.  Four of Bradley's last five road victories have been against in-state opponents.  Loyola is the only other MVC team to play more road games than the Braves this season. 

Bradley swept the regular-season series from Illinois State last year and the Braves have won four consecutive against the Redbirds.  A win Friday at Redbird Arena would give Bradley its first three-game road win streak in the series since capping a four-game road win streak at Illinois State in 1994-95. 

Indiana State (6-10 overall, 2-3 MVC) enters a Friday night home contest against Loyola one game ahead of Bradley in the Valley standings.  The Braves will be trying to snap an 18-game road losing streak in the series with the Sycamores which dates back to the 1996-97 season. 

Last weekend, Bradley held Missouri State and Wichita State to an average of 49.5 points per game and the Braves have held conference foes to 60.6 points per game.  Each of the last three opponents have scored 62 points or fewer, marking the first time since the first three games of the 2011-12 season Bradley gave up 65 or less in three consecutive games. 

In fact, the last time three consecutive MVC opponents scored 65 or less was midway through the 2010-11 campaign.  The Braves last had a streak of four games or more surrendering less than 66 points in 2009-10 (six games).  The 50-44 win Sunday was the first home victory for Bradley when scoring 50 points or less since Dec. 8, 1976. 

Junior Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn./Chisago Lakes/Washington State) had 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting Sunday against Wichita State and has scored in double figures in four of the last six games.  She is averaging 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game during that stretch.  

Fellow junior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) has averaged 9.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in four career outings against Illinois State entering Friday's matchup.  Lerma pulled down 11 boards in each of last year's games against the Redbirds. 

Following the weekend road swing, Bradley opens a season-long, four-game home stand Friday, Jan. 29 with a 7 p.m. tilt against Drake.