PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley women's basketball opens Missouri Valley Conference play at home for the second consecutive year and third time in five seasons when the Braves host Loyola Sunday in a 6 p.m. game at Renaissance Coliseum.
Sunday's game will feature a special halftime performance by the K9 Frisbee Dogs presented by Morton Buildings. Bradley (4-7 overall) and Loyola (4-7 overall) both finished the non-conference portion of the schedule with identical 4-7 records. The Braves play three of the first five and seven of the first 11 MVC games at Renaissance Coliseum, marking the first time Bradley will play seven of the first 11 Valley games at home since 1996-97.
Notes | ESPN3 | WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM | Live Stats | Twitter Updates (@BradleySIDLive) | Tickets
The game will be available on ESPN3 as part of The Valley On ESPN3 and can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats and Ed Hammond will provide play-by-play on the WIRL 1290 AM/102.7 FM (www.1290wirl.com) on the radio broadcast.
Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for faculty/staff. Little Braves Club members receive free admission to all Bradley women's basketball teams. For more information visit - http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=131065&DB_OEM_ID=3400&DB_OEM_ID=3400
One of two teams in the MVC with four players averaging at least 9.0 points per game, Bradley swept the regular-season series from Loyola last year and owns a 19-13 advantage in the all-time series with the Ramblers. Bradley is 11-1 in the last 12 home games in the series and 11-3 at home all-time vs. Loyola.
Sunday's outing marks just the fifth time in 16 seasons Bradley will open league play at home and the Braves will try to snap a six-game losing streak in Valley openers which dates back to the 2008-09 season. Bradley is 5-9 when opening the MVC schedule at home, but looking for the team's first win at home to open the conference schedule since 1996-97.
Junior Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn./Chisago Lakes/Washington State) scored all of her team-high 19 points in Wednesday's contest at Saint Louis during a 10-minute stretch of the second half. She was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field during her scoring outburst as she tallied the most points in a half by a Brave since Michelle Young had 19 points in the first half of last year's overtime game at Columbia in which Young tied the Bradley single-game scoring record with 38 points. Tinjum is now second on the team in scoring at 9.7 points per game.
Sophomore Tamya Sims (Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek) has scored in double figures in each of the last two games and collected 14 blocks in the last four outings. Sims scored in double figures in all three matchups with Loyola last year, averaging 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 3.0 blocks per game in the three matchups against the Ramblers in 2014-15.
Fellow sophomore Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) hit a pair of three-pointers at Saint Louis Wednesday as she wrapped up the non-conference schedule with 29 three-pointers. Schlueter joined Michelle Nason (1993-94) as the only players in program history to hit at least one three-pointer in the first 11 games of a season and her 29 trey's are the most by a Bradley player during the regular-season non-conference portion of the schedule since Michlle Lund hit 32 three's in 2008-09.
After opening MVC play against Loyola, Bradley will open a two-game road swing Friday, Jan. 8 at Southern Illinois.
