WBB Notes: Bulldogs Begin Road Trip With Drury & Missouri S&T

Truman Women's Basketball Game Notes
Thursday, January 29 vs. Drury ~ 5:45 p.m. Springfield, Mo.
Game Notes (PDF)		Live Stats (Fan)
Live Audio		Live Stats (Media)
GLVC Stats	GLVC Standings	NCAA Stats
Saturday, January 31 vs. Missouri S&T ~ 1:00 p.m. Rolla, Mo.
Game Notes (PDF) (posted FRI)		Live Stats (Fan)
Live Audio	Live Video	Live Stats (Media)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Bulldog Women's Basketball team embarks on a four-game road trip starting on Thursday against the team that ended their run last season. The Bulldogs will face the Drury Lady Panthers at 5:45 p.m. before heading to Missouri S&T on Saturday afternoon.

About The Bulldogs (11-6, 5-4 GLVC):
The Bulldogs enter the second half of the conference season in a three-way tie for third place in the GLVC West Division with Maryville and William Jewell. Truman is a game behind travel partner Quincy and three games back of Thursday's opponent, Drury. Truman's game against Drury will mark the fifth game this season against a nationally-ranked opponent.

Truman ended their four-game homestand on a positive note winning 61-58 over William Jewell on Thursday night and holding on for a 72-66 win over Rockhurst on Saturday afternoon. Courtney Strait scored 19 and added eight rebounds while Allie Norton beat the clock and won the game with a three-pointer at the horn against the Cardinals. Norton then scored a dozen points and had a pair of assists in the first 7:30 against the Hawks as Truman raced out to a 20-8 lead.

Norton's week allowed her to leapfrog into Truman's top 10 in career scoring. She has 1,194 points and sits in ninth all-time and is 19 points away from the eighth spot held by former teammate Breanna Daniels. In her last five games, Norton has added 33 assists (6.6/g) to her career total to eclipse 300 and now is one behind Angie Gum for sixth all-time.

Norton leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 15.4 points per game, which is sixth in the GLVC. She is tied for sixth in assists per game (3.82), seventh in free throw shooting (87.0%), 13^th in three-point field goal percentage (38.7%), three-pointers made per game (2.82/g), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.71) and fifth in minutes played (34.53).

Strait is second on the team and tenth in the GLVC in scoring at 14.4 per game. She leads the team in conference scoring at 14.9 per game and is ranked fourth in free throw percentage (90.0%), 15^th in three-pointers made (1.89/g), ninth in defensive rebounds (4.71/g) and tenth in minutes (31.47/g).

Michalina Tomczak leads the Bulldogs in rebounding at seven per game, good for seventh in the conference and has cracked the top 10 in Truman history in blocked shots with 39 (Tied ninth) with a single-game high of four against William Jewell last Thursday. Tomczak is tied for seventh in blocks in the GLVC (1.06/g) and is second in offensive rebounds (2.88/g).

Truman averages 68.2 points per game offensively while allowing 68.6 on the defensive end. They shoot 40.5% from the field, including 34.7% (7.06/g) three-pointers and 74.7% from the foul line. Opponents shoot 42.1% overall, 36.9% (5.5/g) from three and 80.2% from the foul line.

Truman vs. Drury (Thursday 5:45 p.m. – Springfield, Mo.)
Series History: The Bulldogs are looking to break the seal that the Lady Panthers have had on Truman in all eight games in the series. The two teams met twice last season with Drury ending the Bulldogs 23-game home winning streak with a 93-86 win on February 1 then ended the season at the NCAA Regional in overtime 74-68.

Drury Last Time Out: After dropping an 80-64 road tilt at William Jewell, the Lady Panthers rebounded with a pair of road wins against Maryville (77-70) and Missouri-St. Louis (66-48). Drury rallied from 15 down against the Saints with Annie Armstrong scoring 30 points on six made three-pointers. The Lady Panthers blew open a one-point game in the second half against the Tritons, holding UMSL to 23 points in the final 20 minutes while Addy Roller took game-high honors with 19 points.

About the Lady Panthers: Drury sits atop the GLVC West Division with a two-game cushion over Quincy…The Lady Panthers are second in scoring offense at 77.7 per game and first in the GLVC in free throw shooting (81.8%) and turnover margin (+4.4)…after setting a school record with 112 blocked shots last season (3.6/g), the Lady Panthers are last in the GLVC with 20 blocks (1.2/g)…Annie Armstrong leads team in scoring at 15.1 points per game and shoots nearly 50% from three (32-66)…Sanayika Shields averages 12 points and nine rebounds per game and Addy Roller is the third Lady Panther in double-figures at 10.9 ppg…Drury was 27-4 last season and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight…under the direction of first year head coach Molly Miller.

Truman vs. Missouri S&T (Saturday 1:00 p.m. – Rolla, Mo.)

Series History: Truman leads the all-time series with the Miners 29-24 and defeated Missouri S&T 80-52 in Pershing Arena last season…this will be the first trip by the Bulldogs to Rolla since December of 2005.

Missouri S&T Last Time Out: The Miners are mired in an eight-game losing streak. They were dealt two 20-point losses in St. Louis last week as they fell to Missouri-St. Louis 74-49 and 86-55 to Maryville. Janie Arand scored 13 in the loss to the Tritons as the Miners fell behind 40-17 at halftime. Brittany Andersen scored 16 but the Saints led 44-26 at the end of the first half on Saturday.

About The Miners: Missouri S&T is 4-13 overall and 0-9 in the GLVC…they are first in the conference in three-point shooting percentage at 38.5% but average 4.65 per game…Miners score 60.9 per night but allow 70.0…they are fifth in the league in defensive rebounds at 26.4 per game…have relied on balanced scoring with Janie Arand leading the team at 8.1 points per game including a team-high 25 three-pointers…have seven players averaging over five points per game but no one over 10…finished 9-18 last season and 5-13 in the GLVC and played Southern Indiana in the first round of the tournament…Alan Eads is in his 11^th season at the helm of the Miners and is their all-time leader in women's basketball wins.

Bulldog Notebook:

Norton Moving Up Charts:
Allie Norton became the 19^th Truman player to join the 1,000 point club earlier this season (1,194) and is second in career three-point shooting at Truman with 249 made.
The 249 is second among active Division II players and eight among all three NCAA Divisions. Brittany Batts from Gannon leads the DII with 266 and Morgan Eye from Missouri leads all of the NCAA with 337 three-pointers.
Norton is fourth in Division II and eighth overall in career three-point shooting percentage and fourth/23rd overall in three-pointers per game.

Strait Shooting:
In her three seasons as a Bulldog, Courtney Strait has been nearly perfect from the charity stripe. Strait's career 90.1% free throw shooting percentage ranks first in Truman lore ahead of teammate Allie Norton's 86.7%. Megan Kahn is the non-active player career leader at 83% with a minimum of 100 made.

Double-Figure Games:
Allie Norton has 64 career double-digit scoring nights with ten 20+ point games. She set a new career-high of 29 points against Culver-Stockton earlier this season. Norton has scored in double-digits in 13 of the last 14 games entering the weekend and all but two this season.

Courtney Strait has 34 games in which she scored 10 or more points and nine games of 20 or more, including four this season. Her career-high is 28 against Mount Mercy (Iowa) on December 21, 2012. She has averaged a team-leading 14.9 points in conference games.

Michalina Tomczak has 14 double-figure scoring games with a career-high of 25 against Cameron (Okla.) earlier this season. Tomczak has all of the Bulldogs three double-doubles this year with 14 and 12 against Wisconsin-Parkside, 14 and 10 against Missouri-St. Louis and 12 and 13 against William Jewell.

Saturday Postgame Notes:

The Bulldogs recorded their highest shooting percentage overall (42.6%) in seven games but had their lowest three-point shooting percentage of the season (15.8%).
The 15.8% from three was the lowest in 70 games for the Bulldogs dating back to a 1-of-10 performance in a non-conference game against Rockhurst on November 28, 2012.
Allie Norton scored 12 points in the first 7:30 of the game plus had two assists during that span to account for 16 of the first 20 points scored.
Norton passed Kelli Kreuser, Annie Westhoff and Kristy Brown on Truman's career scoring list with her 10^th 20+plus game of her career. It was her 102 game started and played in.
Kasey Gassensmith scored a season-high 11 points and matched her career-high with five free throws made in a game.
It was the second straight game Truman won the boards (35-33) but Rockhurst had 18 offensive rebounds that led to 14 second chance points.
The 20 turnovers were a Bulldog high in conference games this season.
The Bulldogs led for 39:34 with Norton hitting the game's first basket, a three-pointer, to kick things off.

Truman's Tough Schedule:
Drury's game will be the fifth game against a team that is nationally ranked. Truman is 1-3 against the other four teams that were ranked at the time of the game. They were defeated by now #1 Lewis, #7 West Texas A&M and #9 Pittsburg State. The lone win came against then-#18 Missouri Southern.

Tip-Ins:

The Bulldogs are 69-33 (.676) over the past four seasons, 40-25 (.615) in league games and 39-9 (.813) in games played in Pershing Arena during that span.
The Bulldogs have used the same starting lineup for all 17 games played this season. Allie Norton, Courtney Strait, Michalina Tomczak have been joined by redshirt freshman Ashley Hartwig and true freshman Rachel Steinhoff.
Senior Allison Weise, junior Sarah Gaeddert and redshirt freshman McKenzie Russell have appeared off the bench in all 17 games played.
Kasey Gassensmith returned to action last week and averaged nine points with a pair of blocks. She has missed eight games this season including six of the previous seven before last week.
The Bulldog bench is averaging 16.9 points per game and the team has been outscored in the paint 32.5 to 24.0 points per game.
The largest margin overcome for victory was eight points in the second half against Quincy (Ill.) while the largest lead lost was just three points against West Texas A&M.
Off the court, Truman had three players, Michalina Tomczak, Nicole Gloor (Student-Assistant Coach) and Tawny Tucci, earn Academic All-GLVC.

Up Next: The Bulldogs will cross divisions the next two weeks and will continue their road swing. Truman will face Bellarmine (Ky.) on Thursday and Southern Indiana on Saturday afternoon.

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Players Mentioned

#32 Nicole Gloor: F; 5' 10"; Senior

#24 Sarah Gaeddert: F; 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior

#30 Kasey Gassensmith: G; 6' 0"; Junior

#12 Allie Norton: G; 5' 6"; Senior

#23 Courtney Strait: G; 5' 10"; Junior

#44 Michalina Tomczak: C; 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior

#10 Tawny Tucci: G; 5' 6"; Junior

#03 McKenzie Russell: G; 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman

#42 Ashley Hartwig: F; 5' 11"; Redshirt Freshman

#32 Rachel Steinhoff: G; 5' 7"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#32 Nicole Gloor
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

#24 Sarah Gaeddert
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior
: F

#30 Kasey Gassensmith
: 6' 0"; Junior
: G

#12 Allie Norton
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

#23 Courtney Strait
: 5' 10"; Junior
: G

#44 Michalina Tomczak
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior
: C

#10 Tawny Tucci
: 5' 6"; Junior
: G

#03 McKenzie Russell
: 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman
: G

#42 Ashley Hartwig
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Freshman
: F

#32 Rachel Steinhoff
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: G