Braves Set For Road Tests At Indiana St. & Loyola

Bob Hunt - Photographer

Women's Basketball 1/4/2017 9:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- A road swing encompassing seven games and 41 days between home games will come to an end with games at Indiana State Friday night and Loyola Sunday afternoon.

Bradley (4-8 overall, 0-1 MVC) opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a 71-63 loss at I-74 rival Illinois State Sunday. The Braves held a 49-48 lead after three quarters at Redbird Arena, but a 7-0 spurt by ISU early in the fourth gave Illinois State the lead, which the Redbirds never relinquished.

Friday's game at Indiana State (7-6 overall, 1-1 MVC) will tip at 6 p.m. (CST) and will be Bradley's third game this season in the state of Indiana. Bradley snapped a five-game losing streak in the Hoosier State with the Dec. 19 win at Valparaiso and the Braves will play three games in the state of Indiana for the first time since 2011-12 (1-2). The last time Bradley won at least two games in Indiana was 1996-97.

Sunday's 1 p.m. contest against Loyola (1-12 overall, 0-2 MVC) will mark the second game of the year in Chicago for the Braves. Bradley wrapped up the non-conference schedule Dec. 22 with a 65-56 win at Illinois-Chicago and will look to improve on a 28-18 (.609) overall record in the Windy City.

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.

Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) collected 16 points and 12 rebounds at Illinois State for her second consecutive double-double and fourth of the season. Lerma's double-double against ISU was her 10^th career double-double and first of her of her career against the Redbirds despite averaging 9.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 steals per game in seven career outings against Bradley's I-74 rivals.

Five of Lerma's 10 career double-doubles have come in MVC play. In her four career appearances at Redbird Arena she averaged 11.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals.

Freshman Alona Johnson (Milwaukee, Wis./Riverside) scored a season-high 14 points and matched a season-best with five assists in the MVC opener at Illinois State Sunday. Her 14 points were the most in a Valley opener by a Bradley freshman since Katie Yohn had 18 points in her first MVC contest during the 2009-10 season (at Missouri State). In addition, Johnson was the first Brave with at least 14 points, five assists and three steals in a conference opener since 1998-99 at Illinois State (Heather Best & Stephanie White).

Bradley received a boost in the MVC opener with junior Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) returning to the lineup after missing the previous four games with an injury. Brewer played 29 minutes off the bench and tallied eight points and five rebounds in her first outing since Dec. 2 vs. Northern Illinois.

Freshman Chelsea Brackmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) made her first career start in the MVC opener Sunday. Brackmann scored all six of her points at the free throw line and is just two made free throws from moving her season total among Bradley's top 10 freshman marks with the Braves closing in on the midway point of the 2016-17 regular-season schedule. She is second in the MVC in free throw attempts per game, averaging six trips to the charity stripe per contest.

Following Sunday's game at Loyola, the Braves will play six of the next eight games at home; opening the stretch Friday, Jan. 13 by hosting preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Drake at Renaissance Coliseum.

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