Game Previews:
The Truman Women's Basketball team will close out the January portion of their schedule by trying to remain perfect at home with a pair of conference games. The Bulldogs will welcome MIAA newcomer the University of Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. before greeting Fort Hays (Kan.) State University on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
The Bulldogs (13-3; 6-2 MIAA) picked up a few more votes in the WBCA/USA Today Sports Division II Coaches poll this week as they garnered 27 mentions after going 1-1 against two ranked opponents last week. Truman lost to then #9 Washburn (Kan.) 52-47 before dropping then #11 Central Missouri 73-64 to win their 11th straight home game.
Truman is the best shooting team in the conference and among the leaders of Division II basketball. The Bulldogs shoot 47% overall, 44% from three and 77.3% from the foul line.
Senior
Becka McHenry became the 17th Truman player to eclipse 1,000 career points by matching her single-game high with 24 against the Jennies on Saturday. McHenry is averaging 14.1 points overall and 15.9 in conference play.
Truman's three-point shooting this season has been off the charts at 44%. Sophomore
Allie Norton is one triple away from 100 for her career and the Bulldogs are on pace to shatter the previous school mark of 39% from three set in the 1989-90 season. Last year, Truman shot 37.9% from three. Norton,
Courtney Strait and
Amy Briggs are all in the top five in the MIAA in three-point shooting percentage.
Nebraska-Kearney (5-10; 2-6 MIAA) snapped a five-game skid with a 67-60 win over Missouri Southern in overtime on Saturday. Ivy Jones scored 20 points and Shelby Zimmerman added 14 with nine rebounds in the game with the Lions. Southern tied the game with a late basket but was outscored 11-4 in overtime and shot just 28% for the game including a 1-of-11 performance in the final five minutes.
Zimmerman leads the Lopers in scoring at 11.1 points per game but UNK is last in the MIAA in scoring offense at 58.1, scoring margin at -7.7 and average 24.1 turnovers per game. The Lopers were 8-19 overall last year and 8-14 competing in the Rocky Mountain Athletics Conference.
This is the fourth meeting between UNK and Truman on the hardwood with the Lopers winning two of the previous three. The last meeting a Bulldog win back on December 18, 1995 by a 67-62 score. This is the third time the Lopers have played in Pershing Arena and actually have the Pershing record for holding the Bulldogs to the fewest points with 32 in a 1992 game.
Fort Hays (Kan.) State – Saturday 1:00 p.m.
The Tigers (11-4; 3-4 MIAA) steamrolled to a 10-0 start to the season and climbed to 10th in the Division II poll however losses in four of their last five games have dropped them out of the top 25. They are receiving 53 votes in this week's poll and will play at Lindenwood (Mo.) on Thursday prior to coming to Kirksville.
Third-team all-MIAA selection Kate Lehman leads the Tigers at 15.8 points per game and just over nine rebounds and Katelyn Edwards has a team leading 43 assists while scoring 12.3 per contest.
The Tigers are the top defensive team in the MIAA allowing 50.9 points per game and holding opponents to 34% shooting. Fort Hays also averages a conference leading 12.1 turnovers per game and Lehman's 63 blocks propels the Tigers to first in the league with 6.6 blocks per game.
Fort Hays along with Pittsburg (Kan.) State were the only two conference teams to sweep the Bulldogs last season. The Tigers won 69-63 in Pershing Arena on Jan. 2nd and 63-56 in Hays, Kan. Lehman blocked 12 of the Tigers 19 shots against Truman last year and held the Bulldogs to just 34% shooting overall in the losses.
The two wins by FHSU last year stopped Truman's three-game winning streak over the Tigers. The overall series is held by the Tigers 7-6 and the six games have been split in Kirksville.
Coaches:
The Bulldogs are under fifth-year head coach Michael Smith who has an overall record of 61-63. He is fourth all-time in victories at Truman and is 38-52 in conference games. Smith was previously at Division I, Arkansas-Little Rock is a graduate of Central Methodist (Mo.) and a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State.
Kevin Chaney is in his third season at the helm of the University of Nebraska-Kearney taking over for former Truman assistant Carol Russell. Chaney is 26-43 while at UNK. He previously worked at Nevada, Southern Illinois Edwardsville, Minnesota-Duluth and Lincoln (Mo.). Russell spent 2002-2010 in Kearney and guided the Lopers to the Sweet 16 in 2007.
Tony Hobson is also in his fifth season on the bench at Fort Hays State. The Tigers enjoyed one of their best seasons ever going 20-9 last year and a fifth place finish in the conference. He is 483-162 in his 21 years of coaching at the junior college, NAIA and NCAA Division II levels.
The Week That Was:
The Bulldogs split arguably their two toughest tests of the season last week with a narrow five-point loss at #9 Washburn (Kan.) and a nine-point win over #11 Central Missouri at home.
Truman's shooting cooled off from the field a bit as they shot 36% from the floor and 32% from outside but were 28-of-33 (84.8%) at the free throw line.
Becka McHenry averaged 17.5 points and went 11-of-13 from the line in games last week while
Allie Norton averaged 10.5 hitting 5-of-9 three-point attempts.
Bianca Szafarowicz averaged 8.5 rebounds and
Megan Sharpe pulled down six offensive boards during the week.
#Trending:
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The Bulldogs received 27 votes in this week's WBCA/USA Today Sports Division II Coaches Poll. It is the fifth weekly poll that Truman has received votes this season. The Bulldogs received votes in three polls last season. The last national ranking was in 1999-2000 season.
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Truman is third in Division II in overall field goal percentage at 47.3% they trail Simon Fraser (B.C.) by three-tenths of a percentage. The Bulldogs are the top three-point shooting team at 44% with Winona (Minn.) State second at 42.3%. Truman is also seventh in free throw shooting at 77.3%
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They are in the top 25 in the national rankings in scoring offense (22/73.8), scoring margin (13/16.9), three-pointers per game (19/7.6), turnovers per game (21/14.8), fouls committed per game (13/13.4) and assist/turnover ratio (21/1.06).
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The Bulldogs have won a school-record 11 straight games in Pershing Arena dating back to February 1, 2012. The previous record for consecutive home wins was nine set during the 2007-08 season.
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Truman has won three MIAA games by a scoring margin of 20 or more points. They have six games of a margin of 20 or more points in conference over the last two years and 25 in the 30 years of MIAA Women's Basketball (since 1982-83).
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The largest margin Truman has trailed in a game in which they won this season is six points (three times, last against Central Missouri). Their three losses came by seven (trailed by as many as 13) to Missouri Western, eight to Vanguard (Calif.) and five to Washburn.
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Truman has outscored their opponents by 83 points in the second half of eight conference games and have shot 49% overall and 44% from three as well as 85% from the foul line. Eight players have averaged over four points in the second half of league games while the team averages 39.1 points in the half.
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Becka McHenry joined Amy Eagan as only the second Truman player to score over 100 points (1012), have more than 400 rebounds (422) and dish out 300 assists (323). Eagan registered 1527 points, 643 boards and 529 assists from 1995-99.
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Allie Norton leads the team with 40 three-pointers made while Amy Briggs is second with 37. Norton's 99 threes are eighth all-time in Bulldog career as a sophomore and her 42.3% from outside is currently the best all-time among Truman players with at least 50 made.
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Norton is sixth in the latest NCAA Division II rankings in three-point field goal percentage.
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Becka McHenry has made 67 straight starts, Jennifer Conway has started in 59 straight games she has appeared in (she missed a game on Jan. 7, 2012 against Northwest Missouri and again on Jan. 19, 2013 vs. Central Missouri) and Allie Norton has started all 43 games of her college career.
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Courtney Strait's 28 points against Mount Mercy was the most by a Bulldog since Georgia Mueller scored 29 against Missouri Western on Feb. 21, 2009 and the second most by a freshman since Mueller scored 29 against Upper Iowa in January 2006.
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Truman is averaging 73.8 points and shooting 47% from the field and 44% from three. Last year, they averaged 70.9 points and shot 41% from the field, 37% from the arc and 71% from the line last season.
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Amy Briggs has both of the team's only double-double this season. She had 14 points and 10 assists against Mount Mercy.
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The Bulldog bench is outscoring the opposing bench by nearly seven points per game (25.1/18.9) with freshman Jessica Redd leading the team with a 59% field goal percentage.
Up Next:
After Saturday's game, Truman will have just two of their remaining eight regular season games at home. The Bulldogs will be off until next Saturday (Feb. 2) when they travel to Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University for a 1:30 p.m. start in Bolivar.
