Game Preview:
The Truman Women's Basketball team will look to get back on the winning track as they host Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University in the annual “Think Pink” game on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. The Bulldogs are joining hundreds of women's basketball programs throughout the country in raising money and awareness for cancer research.
The Bulldogs defeated the Bearcats 64-50 on February 2nd in Bolivar.
Allie Norton led Truman with 15 points and
Becka McHenry added 13 with each pulling down six rebounds. Truman scored 14 straight points midway through the first half and never allowed the Bearcats to get within eight points the rest of the contest. Jacqui Zelenka paced Southwest Baptist with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Truman (16-5; 9-4 MIAA) suffered consecutive losses for the first time in over a year last week as they fell at Pittsburg (Kan.) State 63-48 on Thursday and dropped a heartbreaker at Northeastern (Okla.) State 46-44 on Saturday.
The Bulldogs shot a season-low 23.7% from the field in the loss to the Gorillas making just 14-of-59 field goal attempts. It was the lowest field goal percentage for the Bulldogs since a 2006 MIAA tournament game against Washburn in which the Bulldogs managed just 23.2%. McHenry recorded the third double-double for the team this season as she had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Against the Riverhawks, a four-point play with 24 seconds left put Northeastern State up 45-44 and they would go on to win 46-44 in the lowest offensive output this season for the 'Dogs. Norton bounced back after getting shutout of the scoring column on Thursday by matching her career-high of 20 points against the Riverhawks.
With the two losses, Truman dropped out of the WBCA/USA Today Sports Top 25 poll but received 51 votes, five shy of #25 Minnesota State University Mankato.
The Bulldogs started Southwest Baptist's current three-game losing streak. The Bearcats (9-12; 4-9 MIAA) lost at Missouri Southern 69-63 and most recently on Saturday at Pittsburg State 74-61.
Zelenka leads SBU with 12.9 points and 10 rebounds per game and has been the leading scorer in three of the last four games.
The Bearcats are just behind the Bulldogs in three-pointers per game at 6.7. SBU averages 64.8 points and shoots 41.7% and 33% from outside.
Coaches:
The Bulldogs are under fifth-year head coach Michael Smith, who has an overall record of 64-65. He is fourth all-time in victories at Truman and is 41-54 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.
Second year Bearcats' coach Todd Voss is in his 19th overall season as a women's basketball coach. Voss was a five-year assistant coach for Drake (Iowa) prior to taking charge of the SBU program and served as head coach at Concordia (Neb.) University from 1999-2006 with a 36-2 record in 2002-03.
Bulldogs Last Five Games:
Through the first 12 games of the season, the Bulldogs were averaging 75.8 points per game but through the last five the offensive production has dropped off. Truman, in their last five games has averaged 54.6 points per game while shooting 32% from the field and 33% from the arc. Truman has also had 32 shots blocked (6.4/g) while blocking 12 (2.4/g) during that span.
Defensively, Truman has allowed just 52.4 points in the last five contests and have held opponents to 23% from three-point range and 36% overall.
Allie Norton has led the team with 11.8 points per game average with
Becka McHenry chipping in 10.2 while adding 9.2 rebounds per game. Norton, McHenry and
Amy Briggs have accounted for 57% of the teams overall scoring over the last five games.
Battle For Top Four:
Truman clinched one of the 12 spots available for the MIAA postseason conference basketball tournament. The Bulldogs are currently fifth in the MIAA standings, a half-game back of Emporia State but with the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Lady Hornets.
Washburn (Kan.) has just one league loss while Central Missouri has two. Northeastern State and Emporia State have three MIAA losses.
Trailing the Bulldogs, Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State have five losses.
The top four teams in the final regular season standings get a “free pass” to Kansas City and the postseason tournament for the Friday, March 8th quarterfinals. Seeds five through eight will host seeds nine through 12 in a first round game on campus sites on Tuesday, March 5th.
WBCA/USA Today Poll:
After spending two weeks within the top 25, Truman dropped to 27th in this week's poll. Six MIAA schools are getting votes in the poll with Washburn (Kan.) in at six and the University of Central Missouri at seven. Pittsburg (Kan.) State, Fort Hays (Kan.) State and Northeastern (Okla.) State are also receiving mentions in this week's survey.
This is the eighth poll this season that Truman received votes. The highest ranking for the Bulldogs all-time was 14th on January 25, 1999.
#Trending:
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Truman remained first in the national statistics in three-point field goal percentage (41.2%). They are 14th in overall field goal percentage (43.8%) and 11th in free throw shooting (76.0%.)
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The Bulldogs are third among all NCAA schools in three-point shooting trailing Duke (N.C.) at 43.4% and Division II DePauw (Ind.) University at 41.9%. Five schools nationally are shooting above 40% from three with the Bulldogs holding a slim one-tenth of a percentage point lead over Winona (Minn.) St. (41.1%). Ashland (Ohio) is third in Division II at 40.4%
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Truman is 22nd in the national rankings in scoring margin (+13.4) and 19th in three-pointers per game (7.3/g).
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In conference only statistics, Truman is averaging 64.3 points (7th), allowing 55.8 points (3rd) and posting the top free throw shooting percentage (76.4%) and the second best three-point percentage (38.1%).
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The Bulldogs have won a school-record 13 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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Becka McHenry joined Amy Eagan as only the second Truman player to score over 1000 points (1063), have more than 400 rebounds (463) and dish out 300 assists (335). Eagan registered 1527 points, 643 boards and 529 assists from 1995-99.
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McHenry is two assists away from tying Jeanette Cleven (1983-87) for fifth all-time.
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Jennifer Conway is two rebounds away from becoming the 13th Bulldog to record 500 career rebounds. She is six blocks away from 100 for her career, which she is already third in Truman history.
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Allie Norton leads the team with 52 three-pointers made while Amy Briggs is second with 47. Norton's 111 threes are seventh all-time in Bulldog career as a sophomore and her 42.4% from outside is currently the best all-time among Truman players with at least 50 made. She will tie Kathy Russett (1988-92) with one more made three-pointer.
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Becka McHenry has made 72 straight starts and Allie Norton has started 48 consecutive games. Jennifer Conway has started in 63 straight games she has been available for (missing three due to injury in the past two years). Bianca Szafarowicz has started all 21 this year and 44 for her career and Nicole Gloor all 19 she has been available for and 32 for her career.
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In some individual conference-only stats, McHenry is 10th in scoring (13.2/g) and 15th in rebounding (5.7/g). Bianca Szafarowicz and Megan Sharpe are 10th and 13th respectively in steals.
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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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Amy Briggs has two of the team's three double-doubles this season. She had 14 points and 10 assists against Mount Mercy. McHenry had the other with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Pittsburg State.
Up Next:
Truman will be off on Saturday and will next play at home against Lindenwood (Mo.) for Senior Night on Thursday, February 21st. The Bulldogs defeated the Lions 86-65 on January 5th in St. Charles. Seniors
Becka McHenry,
Jennifer Conway and
Megan Sharpe will be honored during the evening.
