Women’s Basketball Hosts Cleveland State For Field Trip Day

Women's Basketball 12/18/2017 1:43:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball returns to Renaissance Coliseum for the first time in two weeks after playing six of the last seven games away from home with the Braves hosting Cleveland State Tuesday in the team's annual Field Trip Day presented by Prairie Farms.

The first meeting between Bradley (5-4 overall) and Cleveland State (7-3 overall) in a decade will feature a special 11 a.m. start time with approximately 2,500 area school children at the game, which will mark the sixth consecutive year the Braves have hosted a Field Trip Day. Children in attendance will receive a workbook with puzzles, games and world problems which focus on leading a healthy lifestyle, nutrition, character building and dealing with bullying.

Tuesday's game will be available on ESPN3 as part of the MVC media rights agreement with ESPN. The Valley On ESPN3 can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. In addition, Ed Hammond will handle the radio broadcast on WIRL 1290 AM with links to the audio stream available at BradleyBraves.com

Bradley and Cleveland State have played just one time previously, with the Vikings topping the Braves in the consolation game of the 2007 Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska. Tuesday's outing marks the second consecutive game for Bradley against a Horizon League team and third contest this season against a Horizon League squad.

A staple on the Bradley schedule, Field Trip Day has produced five of the top seven highest attended games in the seven-plus year history of Renaissance Coliseum. Tuesday's game will be no different, with the largest student attendance in the history of the event expected to be on hand. The largest stand-alone single-game attendance for the Braves at Renaissance Coliseum was the 2013-14 Field Trip Day when 2,402 fans watched Bradley defeat Illinois. With over 3,000 tickets accounted for, the Braves will look to challenge the largest stand-along single-game home attendance record of 3,128 set Jan. 6, 2002 against Illinois State at Robertson Memorial Field House.

While Bradley is tied for the fewest home games (3) in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, the Braves bring an unblemished 3-0 home record into the matchup with Cleveland State. Bradley puts a four-game home win streak on the line against the Vikings, which matches the longest win streak in Renaissance Coliseum history. A victory Tuesday would give the Braves their first five-game home win streak since winning the final four home games of the 2009-10 season at Illinois Central College and the first game played at Renaissance Coliseum to kick off the 2010-11 campaign. Bradley has won eight of its last nine home games.

The final game before Christmas has been kind to Bradley over the year with the Braves boasting a 26-15 (.634) record in the final outing before the holidays. In fact, Bradley owns an impressive 14-3 (.823) mark when playing the final game before Christmas at home.

A victory in either of the remaining two non-conference games would give Bradley its best non-conference record since posting a 6-5 mark in 2012-13.

The Braves will have an eight-day break following the Cleveland State game, with Bradley closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule Thursday, Dec. 28 with a home contest against Western Illinois (7 p.m.).

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