Braves Continue Home Stand Sunday With Eureka

Duane Zehr, Bradley University ITPS

Women's Basketball 11/23/2016 10:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley women's basketball continues a season-long, five-game home stand Sunday with a 5 p.m. contest against Eureka at Renaissance Coliseum as the Braves and Red Devils meet during the regular-season for the second consecutive year.

Sunday's outing kicks off one of the busiest weeks of the year for Bradley with the Braves slated to play three games in a six-day span, which includes home games against Horizon League preseason favorite Green Bay (Nov. 30) and in-state foe Northern Illinois (Dec. 2).

The game 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 (www.1290wirl.com) radio broadcast with Ed Hammond providing play-by-play.

Bradley owns a 10-3 advantage in the all-time series with Eureka after posting an 87-47 victory in last season's matchup at Renaissance Coliseum. The Braves have won nine consecutive games in the series with Sunday's tilt marking just the second regular-season meeting in the series since 1980-81. Bradley is 6-1 at home against the Red Devils and has won five consecutive home games in the series since the Red Devils won 57-53 on Feb. 16, 1977 at Robertson Memorial Field House.

Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) is averaging a league-best 5.0 offensive rebounds per game and has helped Bradley to a conference-best 14.8 offensive boards per contest. The Braves have had 10 or more offensive rebounds each outing this season and Bradley has held an advantage in second chance points in each game. Nearly 25 percent of the team's points have come on second chance opportunities and the Braves own a +5.8 points per game edge in second chance points on the young season.

Lerma, who is second in the MVC in rebounding at 10.5 points per game this season, collected 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting to go with 13 rebounds, two assists and five steals in 24 minutes in last year's victory against Eureka. Junior guard Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) made 4-of-8 three-point attempts against the Red Devils and joined Lerma in double figures with 15 points.

Bradley has rebounded from slow starts in the early going of the 2016-17 season, scoring over 60 percent of its points this year in the second half. The fourth quarter has been where the Braves have done the bulk of their damage with the squad averaging 19.3 points per game on almost 46 percent shooting in the final 10 minutes of games. Bradley has averaged 5.3 free throw attempts in the first half of games compared to 15.0 free throw attempts in the second half and opponents are shooting 40.9 percent from the field in the second half vs. 46.9 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

Following Sunday's game against Eureka, Bradley will play its fourth consecutive home contest Wednesday, Nov. 30 against Horizon League defending regular-season champ and 2016-17 preseason favorite Green Bay (7 p.m.).

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