Women’s Basketball Returns Home To Host League Leaders

Bob Hunt - Photographer

Women's Basketball 1/11/2017 12:40:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After a program record seven-game road swing and 41 days between home contests, Bradley Women's Basketball finally returns to Renaissance Coliseum this weekend, hosting Missouri Valley Conference co-leaders Drake (Friday) and Northern Iowa (Sunday).

The Braves are 3-2 in their last five games and concluded the seven-game road swing, which started Monday, Dec. 5 at Western Illinois, with a 60-53 victory at Loyola Sunday. Bradley (5-9 overall, 1-2 MVC) will play six of the next eight games at home, opening the stretch with Friday's 7 p.m. game against preseason MVC favorite Drake. The two-game home stand also includes a 2 p.m. Sunday tilt with defending MVC regular-season champion Northern Iowa.

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

Bradley has held four of its last five opponents to 58 points or less and the Braves enter the two-game home stand coming off the two of the defensive efforts of the year. Indiana State scored just 12 points in the first half of last Friday's matchup in Terre Haute, Ind., for the fewest points scored in a half against Bradley in program history. Loyola made just one field goal in the third quarter of Sunday's victory in Chicago for the Braves, who are 3-2 over the last five games and have held teams to 58.8 points per game on 32.9 percent shooting during that stretch.

Drake and Northern Iowa enter the weekend tied atop the MVC standings with 4-0 league records through two weekends of conference action and the pair boast identical 11-4 overall marks on the year. UNI plays at Illinois State Friday night prior to Sunday's matchup with Bradley at Renaissance Coliseum.

Freshman Chelsea Brackmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) was named MVC Newcomer of the Week Monday after averaging 15.0 points, 16.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steal per game in last week's games at Indiana State and Loyola. She had season highs of 23 points and 19 rebounds at Indiana State, with her 19 boards tying the Bradley freshman single game record set by senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine). Brackmann's 23 points were the most in a game by a Bradley freshman since Katie Yohn in 2009-10 and she turned in just the third performance in school history of at least 19 points and 19 rebounds.

Lerma has turned in double-doubles in three of the last four games after 12 points and 13 rebounds at Loyola Sunday. During that four-game stretch she has averaged 12.3 points, 11.8 boards and 2.3 assists per game. Lerma has had four double-doubles in her first five games against MVC foes, including last season's MVC Tournament quarterfinal matchup with Northern Iowa. She has collected 11.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game in her last five outings against Valley opponents.

Bradley is the top rebounding team in the MVC through 14 games (39.6 rpg), thanks in part to the work of Brackmann and Lerma on the glass. Lerma is the top rebounder in the MVC at 9.7 boards per game and is just 24 boards from moving up three spots into seventh on Bradley's career rebounding list. After combining for 11 rebounds in the first two games of the year, Lerma has averaged 10.4 rebounds per contest. Brackmann is averaging 12.7 rebounds per game in MVC play and has pulled down 9.2 boards per tilt over the last six games.

Junior Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) enters the weekend one three-pointer short of 100 for her career and has knocked down at least one three-pointer in 11 consecutive games. Schlueter is 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) from three-point range at Renaissance Coliseum this season and was 4-for-11 from beyond the arc in last season's home matchup with Drake.

Following the weekend home stand, Bradley will open a two-game road swing Friday, Jan. 20 at Wichita State (7 p.m.).

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