Just last Wednesday, the Illini women’s basketball team suffered a 29-point loss at Wisconsin-Green Bay. Although it was early in the season, things did not look good for the Illini. After Saturday’s overtime victory against No. 20 Louisiana Tech, the Illini now have everything going for them.

The team will be looking to build off of Saturday’s performance when Bradley visits the Assembly Hall tonight at 7 p.m.

After ending the nation’s second-longest home-winning streak, the Illini are 4-1 and received four votes in the Associated Press poll.

“It’s a good basis,” said head coach Theresa Grentz. “We’re looking forward to building off (the win on Saturday) in each and every game. Once you can do that, you develop a blue-collar attitude for every game, and you work hard and do it all over again.”

Saturday’s win has also proved to the Illini that they will be able to compete throughout the season.

“We wanted to build confidence going into the Big Ten and the non-conference schedule has been key,” Grentz said. “That was a very good win for us. The schedule has prepared us and gave us confidence.”

Bradley comes into Champaign with a record of 4-2. The Braves are coming off their best victory of the season, in which they defeated Loyola-Chicago 95-66 on Saturday. In that game, Bradley shot a season-high 56 percent from the field, marking the highest field-goal percentage for their program since 2001.

The Braves are led by seniors Dena Williams – who averages 14.3 points per game – and Genny Mueller, who averages 12.8 points.

“Bradley likes to get up and down the floor,” Grentz said. “They have played pressure defense and man-to-man against everyone they’ve played this year. Most teams have come out and played zone defense against us, so I can’t tell you how they are going to come out.”

For the Illini, it is simple – they know that if they come out and play the way they did against Louisiana Tech, they will have success.

“We’re going to go in and play our hardest,” said freshman forward Stephanie Chelleen. “We want to pass the ball and get assists and play Illini basketball like we did against Louisiana Tech. We want to come out and play a good all-around game.”

Chelleen will have more incentive to go out and play her hardest because she will be competing against her sister Ashley, who plays center for the Braves.

Stephanie and Ashley teamed up to lead their high school in Des Moines, Iowa to a 24-1 record in 2003, including a No. 7 national ranking during the season. So far this year, Stephanie is averaging 2.5 points and 2.5 rebounds for the Illini and Ashley is averaging a point and a rebound per game for the Braves.

“It’ll be fun,” Chelleen said. “It’ll be weird because we have not played against each other before, but it should be a fun experience.”

Chelleen said there will be a lot of family members in attendance.

“They just want us both to play a good game,” Chelleen said. “Whoever wins they’ll be happy for, and whoever loses they’ll be sad.”

In the last meeting between the two teams, the Illini defeated Bradley last season 70-58 at Assembly Hall. Illinois has won all six of the two teams’ meetings.