Home-Heavy Stretch Starts Thursday

After playing on the road in eight of the last nine games, Bradley Women's Basketball will play six of its next eight at home, starting Thursday night

Josh Schwam

Women's Basketball 1/11/2022 2:12:00 PM

Game 12 \| Loyola Chicago Ramblers (9-6, 1-3 MVC) at Bradley Braves (3-9, 0-3 MVC)
Date	Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022
Time	6:30 p.m. CT
Location	Peoria, IL
Venue (Capacity)	Renaissance Coliseum (4,200)
Social Media	Twitter: @B radleyWBB \| Instagram: @bradley_wbb

For the first time in 54 days, Bradley will host a NCAA Division I opponent when the Braves welcome Missouri Valley Conference rival Loyola Chicago to Renaissance Coliseum Thursday night. The Braves swept their season-opening, 3-game home stand Nov. 9-19, but endured six schedule changes in the month of December due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then drew their first three Valley games on the road.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 Since completing the sweep of its season-opening, 3-game home stand, Bradley has played one home game since Nov. 19, a hastily-scheduled loss to UIS less than 24 hours after competing at #22 LSU.
9 Bradley's roster includes nine newcomers among the team's 15 active student-athletes.
10 Freshman guard Caroline Waite, now the team's season-scoring leader, has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of the first 10 games of her collegiate career.
30 Bradley is seeking its 30th all-time win against Loyola Chicago, which would make the Ramblers the sixth program to lose at least 30 series games to the Braves.

SERIES HISTORY
47th Meeting | Bradley leads, 29-17
• Thursday's game will be the 47th meeting between the Braves and Ramblers in a series that dates back to the 1979-80 season.
• Bradley owns a 29-17 series record, including a 24-8 advantage since 1995.
• While Loyola Chicago won five of the first eight meetings as Missouri Valley Conference rivals (2013-16), sixth year Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski has led the Braves to a 10-2 record against the Ramblers in her first six years at the helm.

SHOOTING FOR 30
• Bradley is seeking its 30th all-time win against Loyola Chicago.
• The 29 wins against Loyola Chicago currently rank as the sixth most in Bradley history against a single opponent, but the most among programs the Braves have played primarily as a non-conference foe.
• Of the 47 series games to date, 20 have been played during Loyola Chicago's MVC membership (2013-22).
Most Series Wins Overall MVC/GC Non-Con
Evansville 37-20 37-20 ---
UNI 37-45 37-45 ---
Illinois State 35-57 29-52 6-5
Wichita State 33-37 33-37 ---
Indiana State 31-51 31-48 0-3
Loyola Chicago 29-17 13- 7 16-10
Southern Illinois 29-52 29-52 ---

ROAD TESTED
• Bradley played five consecutive road games Nov. 22-Dec. 18 and after breaking the road swing with a Dec. 19 home game against UIS, the Braves began their Missouri Valley Conference season with a 3-game road swing.
• Bradley's first nine road opponents own a 38-18 (.679) combined home record.
• Since completing its season-opening, 3-game home stand sweep with a 64-57 win against Wisconsin, Bradley will have played just one home game in the 54 days leading up to Thursday's Valley home opener.
• Bradley's home games Dec. 1 against Tulsa and Dec. 28 versus Saint Louis were canceled due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

LATE STARTS
• The 2021-22 season marks the third time in head coach Andrea Gorski's six seasons at Bradley - and the fifth time in 39 years of conference membership - the Braves have opened league play with three consecutive road games (2016-17 and 2017-18).
• The Jan. 13 date for Thursday's Valley home opener matches the latest calendar date for Bradley's first conference home game (2016-17, 2007-08) since the first season of Gateway Conference play in 1983-84 (Jan. 20).
• Ironically, interrupting a stretch of three Gateway Conference road games to start league play in 1983-84, Bradley hosted non-conference games against Loyola Chicago (Jan. 7) and Valparaiso (Jan. 9) before returning to Robertson Field House for its league home opener Jan. 20 against Southern Illinois.

LOOKING AHEAD
• Bradley will wrap its weekend home stand Saturday afternoon by hosting Valley rival Valparaiso in a 2 o'clock tip at Renaissance Coliseum.
• The Braves will return to the road next week for games Jan. 20 at Missouri State and Jan. 22 at Southern Illinois then will go without travel for 18 days as they host a 4-game home stand Jan. 27-Feb. 6.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Caroline Waite: G; 5' 4"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#11 Caroline Waite
: 5' 4"; Freshman
: G

Home-Heavy Stretch Starts Thursday

After playing on the road in eight of the last nine games, Bradley Women's Basketball will play six of its next eight at home, starting Thursday night

Players Mentioned

#11 Caroline Waite

Players Mentioned

#11 Caroline Waite