Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Truman State University Athletics

15Wiese-a2

Women's Basketball

WBB Notes: Women Head Out For Two Road Games

Truman Women's Basketball Game Notes
Thursday, January 8 at McKendree (Ill.)  ~ 5:30 p.m. Lebanon, Ill.
 
Saturday, January 10 at Illinois Springfield  ~ 1:00 p.m. Springfield, Ill.
  
 
 
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Bulldog Women's Basketball team heads out for their first conference road games this weekend. Truman will first square off against McKendree (Ill.) University on Thursday night then head to the University of Illinois Springfield for a Saturday matinée.   

About The Bulldogs (8-3, 2-1 GLVC):
The Bulldogs split last weekend's cross divisional games with Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis (Ill.) at home. Truman downed the Rangers 78-66 behind 21 points from Courtney Strait and a double-double of 14 points, 12 rebounds from Michalina Tomczak. However second-ranked Lewis had too much firepower and handed the Bulldogs a 93-57 defeat. Strait scored 22 points in the game but Flyers junior Maryiah Henley-Brawner scored 27 points and added 21 rebounds to keep Lewis undefeated on the season.
 
All three of Truman's losses have come against teams currently ranked in the WBCA/USA Today Top five. Those three teams, #2 Lewis, #T3 West Texas A&M and #5 Pittsburg State are a combine 35-2 this year. The Bulldogs schedule to date has been the fifth toughest among Division II schools with their opponents winning percentage being .687.
 
Senior guard Allie Norton eclipsed 1,100 career points over the weekend and is fifth in the GLVC in scoring at 16 points per game. Norton is second among all Division II players in career three-pointers with 236 made and first in Division II and fifth in all of the NCAA in career three-point shooting percentage at 43.4%. She also leads the team with 30 assists this year and shoots 91% from the foul line.
 
Strait and Tomczak join Norton is averaging in double-figures. Strait is ranked eighth in the GLVC in scoring at 14.8 points per night and is third in the conference in free throw shooting at 92%. Tomczak averages 10.6 points per game and is 11th in the league in rebounding with a 6.8 boards per night average.
 
As a team, Truman is first in the conference in three-point shooting at 39%, making 7.7 treys a game, third in free throw shooting at 75% and eighth in overall field goal percentage at 42%. The team averages 71.3 points per game but has allowed 70.5 points to the opposing teams.
 
 Truman vs. McKendree (Thursday 5:30 p.m. – Lebanon, Ill.)
Series History: The Bulldogs are 9-1 against the Bearcats all-time including last season's 81-66 victory in Kirksville on January 11. Truman and McKendree played seven games between 1985 through 1988 with the Bulldogs taking six. The Bearcats lone win was February 22, 1987 in Lebanon by a score of 71-64. Truman has won all three played in the 2000s. This will be the fifth game played on the Bearcats home court.

McKendree Last Time Out: The Bearcats have dropped their last four games. They were swept last weekend by Maryville (Mo.) University 79-68 and 66-57 at the hands of Missouri-St. Louis.

About the Bearcats: McKendree enters the game with a 1-9 overall record and are 0-2 in the GLVC…their lone win came against Central Christian (Mo.) 77-39 on December 6…Jameeka Bouie (13.0), Gabrielle Williams (11.4) and Caty Ponce (11.2) lead McKendree in scoring this year…Ponce is ninth in career three-point shooting at 38.2% and has scored 1,349 points at McKendree…team averages 63.5 points scored and 70.2 points allowed…shoots 41% from the field, 30.8% from the arc and 72.4% from the line…they are last in the GLVC in scoring margin (-6.7) and three-point defense (42.4%) but fourth in the conference in assists (15.8)…was 8-17 last season, 4-14 in the GLVC…under the direction of Melissa Ringhausen for the 17th season.

Truman vs. Illinois Springfield (Saturday 1:00 p.m. – Springfield, Ill.)
Series History: The Bulldogs have won all seven games played against the Prairie Stars including the only one played in Springfield in 2010 by a score of 67-50 and last year's 94-65 win in Kirksville.  

UIS Last Time Out: The Prairie Stars had a rough road trip through the St. Louis area last week. They were first defeated by Missouri-St. Louis 54-34 then lost a higher scoring game against Maryville (Mo.) 84-70.  They have lost their last four games with their last victory being a convincing 104-17 win against Robert Morris-Peoria (Ill.). UIS will host Quincy (Ill.) on Thursday prior to Truman's visit.

About The Prairie Stars: UIS is 4-6 on the season entering the week and 0-2 in the GLVC…they lead the league in defensive field goal percentage (35.5%) and second in three-point defense at 27.1%...have seven players averaging over five points a game led by Courtney Knuckles at 10.2 points…Syerra Cunningham leads the team in rebounding at 8.0 per game…finished 7-19 last season with a 3-15 mark to place eighth in the GLVC East Division…under the direction of Chad Oletzke, in his third season on the sidelines.  

Bulldog Notebook:
Norton Moving Up Charts:
Allie Norton became the 19th Truman player to join the 1,000 point club earlier this season (1,109) and is second in career three-point shooting at Truman with 236 made. She is 33 away from the school record held by Wendi Sobaski at 269. Norton is moving up the career assists charts and sits ninth all-time with 271 and she will tie her coach Amy Eagan for fourth place in games started this weekend with two more for 98.

Norton is the career-active leader in Division II in three-point shooting at 43.3% and is fifth among all three NCAA Divisions.  
She is second in Division II, 10th overall in three-pointers made and fourth (DII) 16th overall in three-pointers made per game (2.46).

Strait Shooting:
In her three seasons as a Bulldog, Courtney Strait has been nearly perfect from the charity stripe. Strait's career 90.6% free throw shooting percentage ranks first in Truman lore ahead of teammate Allie Norton's 87.4%. Megan Kahn is the non-active player career leader at 83% with a minimum of 100 made.

Tempting The Broadcasters Jinx:
Allie Norton has hit her last 17 straight free throw attempts dating back to the first half of the Quincy (Ill.) game on December 6. In her 96 games played, she has missed more than one free throw in a game just three times, twice last season and once her freshman year.

After missing her first free throw as a freshman, Courtney Strait went on to hit her next 24 consecutive free throws. She holds the Truman single-season free throw mark at 91.7% set in 2012-13 and the single-game mark with a 13-for-13 performance last year against Bellarmine (Ky.).

Double-Figure Games:
Allie Norton has 59 career double-digit scoring nights with nine 20+ point games. She set a new career-high of 29 points against Culver-Stockton the last time out. Norton has scored in double-digits in eight straight games entering the weekend and all but one (Kentucky Wesleyan) this season.

Courtney Strait has 29 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 scored 22 and 21 points respectively in her last two games.

Michalina Tomczak has 11 double-figure scoring games with a career-high of 25 against Cameron (Okla.) earlier this season. Tomczak has been in double-figures in five out of the last six games.

Truman's Tough Schedule:
According to the latest NCAA stats, the Bulldogs have played the fifth toughest schedule in Division II thus far. Truman's combine Division II opponents are 57-26 (.650) overall. Albany (Ga.) State at .803 (1-7 record) has played the toughest schedule followed by Oklahoma Christian (.747/3-9 Record), Virginia Union (.717/4-6 Record) and Newman (Kan.) (.709/3-9 Record).
 
Only Truman (8-3 record/6-3 in Division II) and Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) (8-5/6-5 DII) have winning records among the top 10 toughest schedules ranked.
 
The Bulldogs have played four nationally-ranked programs with all three loses coming against teams that are now a combine 35-2 (.945), Pittsburg (Kan.) State at 13-1, West Texas A&M at 9-1 and Lewis (Ill.) 13-0. Truman handed then #18 Missouri Southern their first loss of the season back on December 15 and the Lions are currently 8-3.
 
The next closest GLVC school on the toughest schedule list was Rockhurst (Mo.) at 39-21 (.650) and ranked 17th. The Hawks are 6-5 on the season.
 
In looking at remaining games, the Bulldogs have the easiest schedule in terms of opponents win percentage in the GLVC. Truman's upcoming conference opponents are 51-63 (.447).
 
Best Shooting Conference:
As a whole, the GLVC is ranked third among Division II leagues in overall field goal percentage (42.0%) and first in both three-point shooting (34.4%) and free throw shooting (72.8%).

Truman is first in the conference and 13th nationally in three-point shooting (39.0%), third and 26th overall in free throw shooting (75%) and eighth in the GLVC in overall field goal percentage (42.2%). The national averages are 39.9% for overall, 31.6% for three-point and 68.5% for free throws.

Tip-Ins:
  • The Bulldogs are 66-30 (.688) over the past four seasons, 37-22 (.627) in league games and 37-8 (.822) in games played in Pershing Arena during that span.
  • This season, Truman is fourth in Division II in personal fouls per game (14.3/game).In 11 games and 22 halves played, opponents have reached the double-bonus five times.
  • Truman is averaging 7.7 three-pointers made per game, good for 23rd in Division II.
  • The Bulldogs have used the same starting lineup for all nine 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 11 games played.
  • The Bulldog bench is averaging 19.2 points per game and the team has been outscored in the paint 23.8 to 35.3 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 and Tawny Tucci, earn Academic All-GLVC.

Up Next:  The Bulldogs will return to the West Division next weekend with a road game at Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday night and a home game against Maryville (Mo.) University on Saturday afternoon.     




 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Nicole Gloor

#32 Nicole Gloor

F
5' 10"
Senior
Sarah Gaeddert

#24 Sarah Gaeddert

F
6' 0"
Redshirt Junior
Allie Norton

#12 Allie Norton

G
5' 6"
Senior
Courtney Strait

#23 Courtney Strait

G
5' 10"
Junior
Michalina Tomczak

#44 Michalina Tomczak

C
6' 3"
Redshirt Junior
Tawny Tucci

#10 Tawny Tucci

G
5' 6"
Junior
McKenzie Russell

#03 McKenzie Russell

G
5' 8"
Redshirt Freshman
Ashley Hartwig

#42 Ashley Hartwig

F
5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
Rachel Steinhoff

#32 Rachel Steinhoff

G
5' 7"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Nicole Gloor

#32 Nicole Gloor

5' 10"
Senior
F
Sarah Gaeddert

#24 Sarah Gaeddert

6' 0"
Redshirt Junior
F
Allie Norton

#12 Allie Norton

5' 6"
Senior
G
Courtney Strait

#23 Courtney Strait

5' 10"
Junior
G
Michalina Tomczak

#44 Michalina Tomczak

6' 3"
Redshirt Junior
C
Tawny Tucci

#10 Tawny Tucci

5' 6"
Junior
G
McKenzie Russell

#03 McKenzie Russell

5' 8"
Redshirt Freshman
G
Ashley Hartwig

#42 Ashley Hartwig

5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
F
Rachel Steinhoff

#32 Rachel Steinhoff

5' 7"
Freshman
G