It’s a new era for Bradley women’s basketball. After posting a 20-win season last year, the Braves are looking for greater success.
The program’s new head coach, former Marquette assistant coach Chaia Meier, knows Central Illinois well. Originally from Normal, Meier’s nearly two decades of coaching have brought her to the Hilltop, where she’s taken the role seriously since arriving.
“I’m so excited to be here,” Meier said. “This is my home, and it’s a different experience to get to live and to coach in your home. When you go into college coaching, you don’t always get to do that. My family gets to come to games – my whole community. I just have connections to this place in a way that you don’t when you move somewhere else.”
Despite the coaching change, the players have welcomed Meier with open arms, spending months practicing under her system and learning what works for them on the court.
“I’ve learned a lot about our coaches and their styles, what they want from the team and for my teammates and how I can effectively communicate with them,” junior guard Mya Wardle said. “Everyone’s a little bit different, so figuring that out has definitely been a challenge, but I think that we’ve learned so much in the past few months, so I’m excited to start playing games now.”
Coming from Marquette, Meier had a chance to coach under Cara Consuegra, who has brought success to the Golden Eagles’ program in two years. During that time, Meier built her coaching repertoire by facing opponents in the Big East.
“I learned a tremendous amount from Cara Consuegra,” Meier said. “I texted her two weeks ago, and I told her that getting to coach under her for two years, I feel like I’m twice the coach I was. She’s a great human being, and that makes her a great leader.”
“I learned so much, especially defensively from her,” Meier added. “She’s a very defensive-minded coach, and I tend to be a little more offensive-minded. It was hard at first, but it’s really paid off for me, and I brought a lot of that with me here.”
Experience coming back to Peoria
While several last year’s roster have either graduated or transferred to a different school, half the team returns for this season, and the coaching staff is eager to work with them at the Renaissance Coliseum.
“That was a big thing when I got here. There were eight kids eligible to stay on the roster, and seven of them ended up staying,” Meier said. “I recruited those kids really, really hard. I talked to them all a great deal, and they all really, really believe in themselves. They felt like they had something and that they were close, and I loved that about them.”
To start, Wardle returns after playing over a thousand minutes for the Braves last season as a key point guard starter. Known as a pass-first player under former head coach Kate Popovec-Goss, her role is expected to change as a junior to accommodate more scoring.
“I think primarily it will stay the same,” Wardle said. “I take a lot of pride in being our floor general and distributing the ball. I do think I’m going to be playing a little bit more off the ball this year. I’m normally not used to not having the ball in my hand, so figuring out different ways to score has been great for my game as a player.”
Joining Wardle as a returning starter, junior forward Ellie McDermid shared minutes as a four and five, giving the Braves a post presence that can also dominate from the arc. Junior guard-forward Lila Posthuma spent most of her time off the bench in 2025-26, but in Bradley’s action so far, she’s become a regular starter under Coach Meier.
“[Lila] has been such a consistent player all summer for us,” Meier said. “She’s a glue kid and somebody who makes little things happen, and she can really shoot it. She didn’t have the greatest day Tuesday, but to me, that’s small compared to the six months I’ve seen her play. She’s one of those kids that just is always wherever you need her to be.”
Despite senior forward Claire McDougall being out for the year, the Braves will once again look towards the bench in crucial situations as junior guard Caitlin Washington and sophomore forward Kali Fortson return after impressing in limited action, as well as junior guard Inia Jones, who is playing her first college basketball games despite suffering multiple injuries.
Acing portal needs
To strengthen the squad even more, Meier and the Braves looked to the transfer portal.
One of Bradley’s biggest additions was graduate transfer forward Charia Smith, whom Meier knows well from her time at Marquette. After four years in Wisconsin, Smith started only six games for the Golden Eagles, but she’s been given the chance to start and hasn’t looked back.
“We really wanted a five that could be dominant but also mobile,” Meier said. “I had coached [Charia] for two years as the post coach, and so I knew her really well. And with her mentality – she wants to win, she’s really smart, and I love those kinds of kids. She’s just going to give you everything she’s got every night.”
Bradley’s starting five is rounded out by another new player in freshman guard Alice Veilleux. After earning several awards in her home country of Canada, she’s been praised as a key defender for every team she’s played on.
“I care a lot about defense, and that was a big target for us with Alice,” Meier said. “I think she’s going to be a stud here. She’s the kind of kid who just doesn’t make many mistakes and learns really fast. And she plays above her age; she’s a freshman, but she’s earned starting [minutes], and I’m really excited for her.”
On the bench, senior and junior guards Amani Abuhatab and Carlota Rey Martinez bring college experience from Mercy University and Southwestern Illinois Community College, while freshmen Journey Lovett and Ashlee Monaghan hope to take their high school experience to the next level.
The chemistry has been built brick by brick since their first practice, and while it’s been difficult to build, the process has been working out perfectly.
“We have some great pieces that we’ve added to the team,” Wardle said. “I’d be lying if I said we fit right away, but it wasn’t always the case. I think there’s been a lot of good practices, some rough ones, so it’s taken a lot of effort, but I definitely think that we have a group that is starting to figure each other out.”
New roles and even better goals
After seeing several experienced players leave, new leaders will have to step up this season.
One candidate for that role is Wardle, who not only has a full season under her belt at Bradley, but also knows Peoria and the community in a way almost no one else does.
“Experience goes a long way,” Wardle said. “We do have a young team this year, so just trying to bring calmness to the team when things get a little bit chaotic is something that’s going to be incredibly important, especially in our non-conference [schedule].”
Along with Meier, the coaching staff looks different overall, as Popovec-Goss took most of her assistants with her to Boston College.
Since her hiring, Meier brought in Brittany Johnson as an associate head coach from Northwestern, Alex Koeller from Wisconsin-Platteville, Sydney Moss from Stetson and Hannah Kelle from Illinois State, each looking to bring their own coaching skills to the table.
“I have a sensational staff,” Meier said. “They are each good at different things, and that was a big part of building it. My staff is very low ego, which is important to me and they’re all here to make us better. And they approach their work every day, they’re very hard workers, and they don’t care who gets the credit. They spend so much of their time with individual workouts, film, everything else, and it’s paying off.”
The confidence everyone has in each other bodes well for this Bradley team to make noise in the Missouri Valley Conference, but most of those goals will come as the season goes on.
“I think we just want to get one percent better every single day,” Wardle said. “That’s kind of been our motto: just attack every day and try to get a little bit better. We play two really tough teams right off the bat, so it’s going to be a great test for us, but just being able to stay together through those times and grow, we’ll feel a little bit more confident in what we’re doing in our system.”
