Bradley Opens MVC Play At I-74 Rival Illinois State

Bob Hunt - Photographer

Women's Basketball 12/29/2016 9:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball will open the 2016-17 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season schedule with a special New Year's Day matchup with I-74 rival Illinois State when the Braves take on the Redbirds in a 2 p.m. contest Sunday at Redbird Arena.

A 65-56 road win at Illinois-Chicago on Dec. 22 gave Bradley consecutive road wins to conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Braves finished off the non-conference slate with a pair of road victories for the first time since 2009-10.

Sunday's 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 will play on New Year's Day for just the fourth time in program history with two of the three previous New Year's Day games played at Indiana State and the other contest at home against Missouri State to open 2005. The Braves will face Illinois State in a conference opener for the first time since 2010-11 when Bradley also finished out the non-conference schedule with a game at Illinois-Chicago. The teams have met in the Valley opener five previous times.

Two of the last three trips to Redbird Arena have resulted in Bradley victories with the lone setback last year (49-54) and the Braves are 5-1 in the last six games in the series. Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) is coming off her third double-double of the year (19 points & 11 rebounds at Illinois-Chicago) and has had a great deal of success against Illinois State in her career.

Lerma has scored in double figures or grabbed 10 or more rebounds in all six career matchups with the Redbirds. She has averaged 8.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 steals in her career against Illinois State, which includes 9.7 points on 57 percent shooting, 9.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.7 steals in three previous games at Redbird Arena. Lerma has grabbed 11 or more rebounds in each of the last four games in the series and has nine or more boards in five of her six games vs. ISU.

Bradley turned in two of its best defensive outings of the year in the last two tilts, with the Braves holding both opponents to 56 points. UIC shot just 26.2 percent from the field in the Dec. 22 game in Chicago and the last two opponents have combined to shoot 28.6 percent from the field which includes 4-for-38 (10.5 percent) from three-point range.

Junior Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) scored a then career-best 22 points in last year's home victory against Illinois State and has averaged 9.8 points per outing in her career against the Redbirds. Schlueter has scored in double figures in nine consecutive games after a 10-point outing at Illinois-Chicago and is just the sixth Bradley player over the last 17 years to score 10 or more points in at least nine consecutive games. She enters the game nine points short of becoming the 48th player in program to reach 600 career points and is five three-pointers from reaching 100 career triples.

Following Sunday's game at Illinois State, Bradley will continue a seven-game road swing Friday, Jan. 6 with a 6 p.m. (CST) game at Indiana State.

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