Dec. 28, 2011

Complete Release as a PDF

Missouri State Lady Bears (7-3/0-0 MVC) vs. Bradley Braves (9-3/0-0 MVC)
Date: Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011
Tip: 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Location: Peoria, Ill.
Site: Renaissance Coliseum (4,200)
Radio: KTXR 101.3 FM
TV: Ozarks CW
Live Audio: RadioSpringfield.com
Live Video: BradleyBraves.com
Live Stats: BradleyBraves.com

The Missouri State Lady Bears (7-3, 0-0 Missouri Valley Conference) begin league play Thursday evening at Bradley (9-3, 0-0) in a 7 p.m. contest that will be televised on the Ozarks CW in the Springfield area.
The Lady Bears follow that with a 2 p.m. Saturday game at UNI (7-4) as MSU faces two of the MVC's three best non-conference records to start the league slate.
MSU and Bradley boast the conference's top records, scoring offenses and shooting percentages.
Missouri State plays its 20th Missouri Valley Conference opener Thursday with a 13-6 record in the previous 19. Coach Milleson is 2-2 in Valley openers, winning the last two against Bradley on New Year's Eve 2009 and SIU on the same day last season.

Series History
Missouri State is 42-21 all-time against Bradley, including a 16-12 mark in Peoria. Bradley has won six of the last 10 meetings and the teams have split the last four, including each winning on the other's home floor last season.

Scouting Bradley
Bradley concluded non-conference play with an MVC-best 9-3 record and has won its last five games.
The Braves average 70.7 points per game and shoot .433 from the field, trailing only the Lady Bears in each category, and allow 62.9 points on .365 shooting with a +4.3 rebounding margin.
Leah Kassing leads the Braves in scoring (12.9) and rebounding (8.0), while Katie Yohn (12.2) and Catie O'Leary (10.5) also average double figures while both shooting at least 46 percent from three-point land.