PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball closes out the regular-season at home for the first time in three years and will face I-74 rival Illinois State in the final home game of the season for the third consecutive year when the Braves host the Redbirds Saturday in a 2 p.m. game at Renaissance Coliseum.
 
Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) and redshirt junior Briana Gray (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet/Saint Louis) will be recognized prior to Saturday's contest against Illinois State.  Saturday's regular-season finale will be a white out, with fans encouraged to wear white to the game. 
 
In addition, Bradley students are invited to a pre-game tailgate which will begin at 1 p.m. on the Alumni Quad and include free pizza for the first 50 students.  A bags tournament will be held in conjunction with the tailgate with registration available by visiting https://goo.gl/forms/NEv4Vvb4HUiuErMv2
 
Students in attendance will also have several opportunities to enter to win prizes including Papa John's pizza vouchers, Bradley t-shirts, Bradley Women's Basketball apparel, Hy-Vee giftcards and a FitBit Flex. Students will get one entry each for attending the tailgate, being in the student section for tip-off, after the first quarter, at halftime and after the third quarter. Winners will be drawn in the fourth quarter. 
 
The Bradley Greek organization with the highest attendance will win the opportunity to host the Bradley Women's Basketball team at an upcoming philanthropy event. 
 
Prior to Thursday nights MVC games, Bradley is a half-game out of sixth in the regular-season standings.  A victory Saturday would guarantee Bradley its best conference finish since 2012-13 and the Braves would be at least the #7 seed for next week's Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Moline, Ill.  Bradley wins individual head-to-head tie-breakers with the two teams tied for sixth (Evansville & Indiana State), with the Purple Aces and Sycamores squaring off Saturday afternoon in Terre Haute, Ind.
 
Saturday'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.  The matchup with the Redbirds will be broadcast on WMBD 1470 AM/100.3 FM (www.1470wmbd.com) with Ed Hammond providing play-by-play.
 
Bradley will close out the home schedule against Illinois State for the third consecutive year and will be looking for a fourth consecutive home win against the Redbirds.  The Braves are 5-2 in the last seven matchups with Illinois State in addition to boasting an identical 5-2 mark in the final home game of the regular-season over the last seven seasons. 
 
Since missing the Feb. 12 game at MVC regular-season champion Drake, Lerma has returned to average 18.3 points on 52 percent shooting and 10.3 rebounds per game over the last four contests.  She became Bradley's career rebounding record holder Sunday at Southern Illinois.  Lerma has scored in double figures or grabbed 10 or more rebounds in each of her seven career games against Illinois State, averaging 9.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game against the Redbirds. 
 
Gray joined the Bradley roster in 2015-16 after playing her freshman and sophomore seasons at Saint Louis.  This season she has appeared in 13 games and is shooting 47 percent from the field after sitting out the 2015-16 season.  An economics major with a 3.59 cumulative grade point average, she will graduate this spring. 
 
Bradley has won four of the last five games at Renaissance Coliseum this season and the team's six home wins are the most home victories since 2012-13. 
 
Sophomore Vanessa Markert (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) is Bradley's first underclassman to score 300 or more points in a season since 2012-13 and has scored in double figures in five of the last six outings.  Markert has averaged 13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.5 blocks per game during that stretch. 
 
In addition to Markert's increased output, junior Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) has scored in double figures in three of the last four games and has averaged 10.0 points per game over the last seven outings.  Brewer has made 10-of-20 from three-point range (50 percent) during that span in addition to dishing out 2.0 assists per contest. 
 
Following the regular-season finale against Illinois State, Bradley will head to Moline, Ill., for the MVC Tournament March 9-12.