PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley women's basketball closes out the home portion of the 2015-16 schedule Sunday with a 2 p.m. matchup against I-74 rival Illinois State at Renaissance Coliseum, marking the second straight season the Braves will play the final home game of the year against the Redbirds.
Sunday's game will mark the final home games for Bradley seniors Sameia Kendall (Kansas City, Mo./Raytown/Johnson County) and Kat Yelle (Geneva, Ill./Geneva/Ohio), who will be recognized prior to the game. Bradley is 4-2 on Senior Day over the last six seasons, with Sunday's outing marking the earliest the Braves will close the home slate since 1998-99.
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Sunday'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.
Slowed by injuries early in the year, Kendall has averaged 5.8 points on 52 percent shooting and 2.2 steals per game over the last five games. A graduate transfer from Ohio, Yelle is among the league leaders in as¬sists (3.3 - 6th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.45 - 4th). In fact, over the last four games Yelle has averaged 7.8 points on 61 percent shooting to go with 6.3 rebounds per contest.
Bradley looks to avenge a 54-49 loss to Illinois State at Redbird Arena back on Jan. 22 as the Braves look to pull even with ISU in the MVC standings in the win column. At 4-9 in MVC play, Illinois State is currently seventh in the MVC standings with Bradley ninth at 3-11. The Braves have won three consecutive home games in the series with Illinois State and are 9-6 at home against the Redbirds over the last 15 seasons.
Junior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) made her first start since Jan. 8 Friday against Indiana State and had a team-high of 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting in addition to matching a career-best with five steals. Lerma became the 59th player in program history to reach 500 career points and is closing in on 500 career rebounds, needing 26 to reach the mark. She is one point and board short of being the first Bradley player since Katie Yohn in 2012-13 with 200 points, 160 rebounds, 25 assists, 15 blocks and 40 or more steals in a season. Missouri State's Tyonna Snow is currently the only player in the league to reach those numbers.
Bradley, which is 1-2 at home this month, is 8-7 at home in the month of February under head coach Michael Brooks and the Braves are 11-9 at Renaissance Coliseum in February since 2011-12. In fact, going back to the 2005-06 season Bradley is 24-17 at home in February and the Braves have had just one February with a losing record at home since 2002-03 with a 31-21 record during that stretch.
Bradley will open a three-game road swing to close the regular season Friday at league-leading Northern Iowa (7 p.m.) in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
