Box Score | Season Stats
University of Central Missouri 71 (16-12; 12-10 MIAA)
Truman State University (Mo.) 62 (12-14; 10-12 MIAA)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Turnabout is fair play as some would say and the University of Central Missouri used that as motivation on Saturday afternoon as the Jennies erased early 12-point Truman lead and held on to defeat the Bulldogs 71-62 on senior day in Pershing Arena.
Truman expunged an 18-point deficit to win the first meeting this season in Warrensburg but the Jennies got a strong second half from their senior guard to down the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs raced out to a 23-11 lead but could not extend the lead further despite Kara Fleming on the bench for 17 minutes in the first half with two quick fouls.
Jennifer Conway (Waterloo, Ill., Waterloo)y led Truman in the first half with eight points followed by Becka McHenry's (Fraser, Mich., Fraser)'s six but only took a 27-21 lead into the halftime intermission. A 10-0 run by the Jennies cut the Bulldogs lead down to just two before Conway and Bianca Szafarowicz (Wheeling, Ill., Wheeling) scored late for the six-point advantage.
The Jennies came out blazing in the second half as they made eight of their first 11 field goal attempts and stormed to a 38-31 lead just five minutes into the period.
The Bulldogs would whittle the lead down starting with a three-pointer by Jenny Dorman (Pella, Iowa, Pella) that sparked an 8-0 spurt.
Truman had a chance to climb to within two with the score sitting at 54-50.Amy Galey (Excelsior Springs, Mo., Excelsior Springs) made one of the tech freebies but missed from the field on the subsequent possession while Nicole Caddell grabbed the rebound went the length of the floor got the hoop and the bonus for a seven-point Central lead.
Just to make things interesting, the Jennies took their largest lead of 14 points with 1:29 to play before the Bulldogs turned into Reggie Miller, circa late 1990 Indianapolis Pacers.
Senior Malorie Kiecker (Watertown, Wis., Luther Prep) keyed in a left corner triple that was followed by a steal and bucket by Galey and another steal and three-pointer by Dorman to cut the lead to six with 36 seconds left. Truman scored eight points 15 seconds.
After finally securing an inbounds pass, Taylor Hanson made five free throws to ice the game.
To cap things off, in an act of sportsmanship, seniorCassie Hunt (Richmond, Mo., Richmond) was allowed to enter the game in the final six seconds. Hunt had a season-ending injury on Jan. 8th and was not entered into the scorebook prior to the game. Central coach Dave Slifer waived the potential technical foul and Hunt was able to score as the time expired ending her basketball career.
The Jennies scored 50 points in the second half with Fleming scoring 12 on 4-of-5 shooting and a pair of three-pointers all in the second 20 minutes while Rebecca Roberts led Central with 14.
Galey led Truman with 13 points, 10 in the second half and eight assists.
With the loss, Truman will be the eighth seed in the upcoming MIAA postseason tournament in Kansas City and will face off against regular season champion Northwest Missouri at noon on Friday in downtown Municipal Auditorium.
