Women's Basketball Tips Off Season Monday At Home

2013-14 Truman Women's Basketball Game Notes:

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GLVC WBB

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The 2013-14 Truman Women's Basketball season will tip-off with three games next week starting on Monday night when they open the campaign at home against Stephens (Mo.) College at 5:30 p.m.

Game Coverage
Monday's game will be available on Truman's Video Stream powered by America One Sports on a pay-per-view basis or as part of the Season Pass package. Live stats will be available through TrumanBulldogs.com.

Saturday and Sunday's game will also have a video stream powered by America One and live stats through NorthwestBearcats.com.

No radio coverage of the Bulldog games this week due to conflicting events.

This Week's Schedule:
Truman will play Stephens (Mo.) College for the fifth time in program history and first since an 81-52 victory to open the 2005-06 season. The Bulldogs will then take part in the Winstead-Reeves Classic on the campus of
Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville. Truman will play the host Bearcats at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and Lincoln (Mo.) University at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

About the Bulldogs (0-0; 0-0 GLVC)
New leadership and a new conference highlight the beginning of the Bulldog Basketball season. Truman All-American Amy Eagan returned to campus and was named Head Women's Basketball coach this past summer replacing Michael Smith and the Bulldogs switched from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association to the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Three of the five starters from last year's 20-8 team return this season led by the nation's top three-point shooter Allie Norton (10.9 ppg). The junior led all of Division II last season with a 45.2% three-point shooting prowess knocking down 71 triples over the course of the season. She is joined by seniors Nicole Gloor (9.3 ppg) and Bianca Szafarowicz (4.4 ppg/4.8 rpg).

The third senior of the trio is Amy Briggs (8.4 ppg) who played in all 28 games, making two starts and shot 38% from beyond the arc and was second on the team with 84 assists.

Truman averaged 68.5 points per game last season while allowing a school record 57.1 points per game. The Bulldogs did not allow an opponent to score over 70 in all but one game last year. The team shot 42% from the floor, 41.6%, which led all three NCAA Divisions from three, 76.6% from the foul line and out rebounded opponents 36.0 to 31.1 per night.

It was the third time in school history that Truman won 20 games in a season and first since the 1998-99 team.
The Bulldogs finished 13-0 in Pershing Arena and were mentioned in 11 WBCA/USA Today Coaches Polls with a peak of 19 in early February.

Bombs Away
The Bulldogs led all three NCAA Divisions in three-point shooting. Truman set a season record with202 treys and shot 41.6% from the arc last year to lead Duke (40.5%), Penn State (39.2%) and Northwest-St. Paul (39.2%) in three-point shooting.

Truman's previous record in three-point shooting was 39% in 1989-90 and 199 triples during the 2007-08 season.

In addition, Truman had the three best single-game three-point shooting marks of all-time. The Bulldogs hit 22-of-31 (.710) in a victory over Mount Mercy (Iowa), made 10-of-15 (.667) against Southwest Baptist (Mo.) and was 12-of-19 (.632) against Lindenwood (Mo.).

New Faces:
Head Coach Amy Eagan played for the Bulldogs from 1995-99 and is fourth all-time in scoring (1527 points, seventh in rebounds (643) and first in assists (529). She holds the Truman single-game scoring record with 46 against Southern Indiana in 1998. As a coach, Eagan spent the last three years at Ashford (Iowa) and two years at St. Ambrose (Iowa). She has a collegiate coaching record of 76-80 with two 20-win seasons.

Eagan is joined on the bench by Adam Tandez and Sarah Eagan. Tandez served as Eagan's assistant coach at Ashford the past two years and is a graduate of Marquette (Wisc.) University. Sarah is Amy's younger sister as in the graduate assistant coach this season.

On the court, five new players have been added to the roster in Tawny Tucci, Ashley Ploudre, Megan Walsh, Linnea Schmelzer and Britney Boland. Tucci is a transfer from Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) and is a sophomore while the other four are true freshman. Also returning this season after missing all of last with injuries are sophomores Sarah Gaeddert and Allison Wiese.

GLVC Preseason Poll:
The Bulldogs join the Great Lakes Valley Conference this season after being a member of the MIAA since 1982. Truman was picked fourth in the West Division of the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 73 points and one first-place vote.

Quincy (Ill.) garnered 11 first-place votes and 112 overall to sit atop the division in the poll followed by Maryville (Mo.) and Missouri S&T. Lewis (Ill.) grabbed 11 first-place votes to lead the East Division followed by the University of Indianapolis.

Lewis came out of the east to win the GLVC postseason tournament last year over #2 seed Maryville 76-61. Wisconsin-Parkside (20-10 overall) and Indianapolis (19-10) joined those two teams as GLVC representatives in the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

The Bulldogs open GLVC play on December 7 at Quincy (Ill.) and will play 18 league games. They will play home-and-home games with Quincy, Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville.

Scouting the Opponents:
Stephens College lost their season opener 89-44 to Lindenwood-Belleville on November 1 and will play at Missouri Valley on Friday before their trip to Kirksville. The Stars were 7-23 last year.

Northwest Missouri lost a 55-50 exhibition game to Illinois State and will open their season on Saturday at Quincy. The Bearcats were picked seventh in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' poll after going 15-13 last year including a 72-65 victory over the Bulldogs. Michael Smith, former Truman coach, is in charge of his alma mater after going 68-68 in four years on the Bulldogs' bench.

Lincoln was picked 12th out of 14 teams in the MIAA after going 11-16 last season and 6-12 in the MIAA. The Blue Tigers will have played four games before facing the Bulldogs next Sunday. They will play a pair of NAIA schools in Trinity International and Hannibal-LaGrange, McKendree (Ill.) and William Jewell (Mo.) of the GLVC.

Up Next:
Truman will play three more games before the Thanksgiving holiday with two coming as part of the Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) Tournament in Nashville. The Bulldogs will take on Grand Valley (Mich.) State on Friday, November 22 and Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.

Truman will come home to host Hannibal-LaGrange on Tuesday, November 26 at 5:30 p.m.

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