Women’s Basketball Set For Coastal Carolina Classic

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 11/27/2019 11:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball makes the third trip in program history to the state of South Carolina for the Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic in Conway S.C., where the Braves will face a pair of Atlantic-10 Conference foes in George Mason (Friday) and Richmond (Sunday).

Bringing a three-game win streak into the weekend, Bradley (4-1 overall) will be playing two games against teams from the A10 for the first time since 2005-06 and will be facing an A10 opponent other than Saint Louis since that same year. Both George Mason (4-2 overall) and Richmond (4-2 overall) are first-time opponent for the Braves.

Friday's outing against George Mason will tip at 3 p.m. (CST), while Sunday's contest against Richmond will start at 10:30 a.m. at Coastal Carolina's HTC Center. No video stream will be available for either game, but BradleyBraves.com will provide links to the 1290 AM WIRL radio broadcast along with live stats for both tilts.

Bradley owns an 11-8 record against current members of the Atlantic 10 with Friday's game against George Mason marking the first matchup with an A10 squad since a home loss to Saint Louis on Nov. 20, 2016. Bradley is 1-1 in neutral site games against current A10 teams with both games against Duquesne. The Dukes won 70-60 in the last meeting in Coral Gables, Fla., in 2005-06, while Bradley won 75-69 on Nov. 27, 1988 in Syracuse, N.Y., during Andrea Gorski's freshman season.

Bradley brings a three-game win streak into this week's Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic after the Braves improved to 4-1 on the year with a 79-68 home victory over Miami (Ohio) Saturday. The 4-1 start to the year marks the second straight season and 10th time in school history Bradley has kicked off a season with a 4-1 record or better. The Braves have back-to-back starts of 4-1 or better for the first time since 1981-82 (5-1) and 1980-81 (7-1) and will be looking for their eighth start of 5-1 or better to a season (2018-19, 2008-09, 2001-02, 1988-89, 1981-82, 1980-81 and 1979-80)

While Bradley is off to a strong start, it should be noted that each of the last four opponents have at least a .500 record through games of Nov. 26. In fact, BU opponents have combined for a 17-11 (.607) mark as of Tuesday and the Braves have faced the 36th-tougest schedule in the country according to the NCAA (through Nov. 24).

This weekend's venture to Conway, S.C., for the Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic marks the third trip in program history to the state of South Carolina for Bradley. The Braves are 2-2 all-time in the Palmetto State with Bradley heading to South Carolina for the first time since playing in the Winthrop Classic in Rock Hill, S.C., during the 2011-12 campaign. The Braves also played at College of Charleston in the second round of the 2010 WBI.

The Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic marks the first of two in-season tournaments for the Braves in 2019-20. Bradley has won three consecutive regular-season neutral site contests and the Braves will play a total of four neutral site games during the regular season to equal the team's regular-season neutral site games over the previous seven seasons combined (2012-13 through 2018-19). Counting at least one neutral site game at the MVC Tournament, Bradley will play a minimum of five neutral site contests in 2019-20, which would match the school season record set in 1979-80.

Bradley led from start to finish in Saturday's win against Miami and the Braves have played with the lead for the last 78:28 of game action over the last two outings. In fact, minus the Nov. 10 game at then 24th-ranked Michigan in which the Wolverines led throughout, Bradley has trailed for a total of 74 seconds in the other four contests so far in 2019-20. In other words, the Braves have been playing with a lead for nearly 157 minutes of the 200 minutes played so far this season.

The Braves follow up the Coastal Carolina Classic with a two-game home stand which starts Thursday, Dec. 5 against North Dakota State (7 p.m.).

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