Women's Basketball 11/24/2015 10:05:00 AM

Truman Women Look To Continue Winning Ways

Truman Women's Basketball Notes (November 25-28, 2015)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanStateWBB || #BewareofDog || @TrumanGameday

Game #6: Truman (3-2) vs. Upper Iowa (1-4)
When: Wednesday, November 25, 2015 || 7:00 p.m.
Where: Fayette, Iowa || Dorman Gymnasium
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video ||
2015-16 Stats: Truman | Upper Iowa

Game #7: Truman (3-2) vs. Culver-Stockton (5-2)
When: Saturday, November 28, 2015 || 1:00 p.m. (FREE ADMISSION)
Where: Kirksville, Missouri || Pershing Arena
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (GLVCSN) || Live Audio (KRES)
2015-16 Stats: Truman | Culver-Stockton

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Women's Basketball team will play two more non-conference games prior to the start of Great Lakes Valley Conference action. The Bulldogs will be at Upper Iowa on Wednesday night before returning home to face Culver-Stockton on Saturday.

The Bulldogs are 3-2 on the young season after winning two of three during the most recent homestand. Truman dominated both Central Christian (74-24) and Hannibal-LaGrange (69-37) but in between the two, lost to Missouri Southern 58-49.

Seniors Michalina Tomczak and Courtney Strait lead the Bulldogs in scoring through the first five games. Tomczak is averaging 11 points and five rebounds per game while adding 10 blocks. Her 70 career blocks is currently fifth in Truman history and she is 12 back of former Bulldog Sarah Sommer for fourth all-time.
Tomczak has been in double figures in three of the five games this season and has scored 14 and 16 points in her last two outings.

Strait started the season with games of 18 and 13 points apiece but has had a quiet home stretch with a six point average during the three games. She is averaging 9.8 points per game while dishing out 10 assists and grabbing five steals.

Sophomore Rachel Steinhoff averaged 7.7 points with eight assists during the three home games and shot 64% from the field.

As a team, Truman is shooting 44% overall and 29% from three. At the line, the Bulldogs have gotten to the charity stripe 69 times and have hit 61 (77.2%). They are averaging 64.8 points per game. On the defensive end, Truman has limited opponents to 50.0 points per game with 17 blocked shots, a 34% shooting percentage and 25% from three.

#TSUvsUIU
The Bulldogs have won the three previous meetings with the Peacocks with the last two coming during the 2005-06 season. That year, Truman won 88-76 in overtime in Kirksville then edged Upper Iowa 51-50 in Fayette.

It will be the classic "Teacher vs Student" game with Upper Iowa Head Coach Carol Russell hosting Truman Head Coach Amy Eagan. Russell was the assistant coach for the Bulldogs under Karin Nicholls from 1995-2000 and coached Eagan while she earned all-America honors at Truman. Russell has been a head coach now for 13 years. She guided Nebraska-Kearney for eight years with five NCAA Tournament appearances and has been at Upper Iowa since 2010 and has improved the win totals on the Fayette campus in each season.

The Peacocks are 1-4 on the young year with three of the losses coming against teams receiving national attention. They lost to #10 Fort Hays State (Kansas) 74-62 in the opener then by nine to Missouri Western, who was receiving votes in the coaches' poll. Against three GLVC opponents, the Peacocks lost to #2 Lewis 90-57, defeated Missouri-St. Louis 74-58 and were last defeated by William Jewell on Sunday 79-63.
Whitney Kieffer and Aleesha Cleaver both average 14 points per game for UIU and Carly Pagel averages 12.2 and 6.2 rebounds per game. The Peacocks have committed 113 turnovers through the first five games (22.6/game) and have allowed 78 points per game.

#TSUvsCSC (2015 Box Score)
Truman improved to 16-8 all-time against Culver-Stockton when they defeated the Wildcats 86-74 last December in Pershing Arena. In that contest, senior Allie Norton scored 29 points on five made three-pointers. The Wildcats cut the margin to six midway through the second half but an 8-0 run keyed by a Norton triple allowed the Bulldogs to pull away. Five Culver-Stockton players, led by Randi Lee Plunkett's 16 points, scored in double-figures.

The Wildcats are 5-2 and have received national attention, via votes, in the NAIA this season. Their two losses came to #9 MidAmerica Nazarene and in overtime to Clarke. Plunkett leads CSC by averaging 13 points per game and has grabbed eight steals and dished out 18 assists.

Truman Last Three Games:
Truman 74, Central Christian 24 (Box Score) – A 29-point second quarter led to the throttling of the Saints in Truman's home debut. The Bulldogs shot 52% from the field and pulled down 46 rebounds to the Saints' 15. Ashley Hartwig was the only Truman play in double figures with 10 but 14 of the 16 players that played scored.

Missouri Southern 58, Truman 49 (Box Score) – After leading early by eight at 10-2, the Truman offense went cold allowing the Lions to gradually pull away for the Division II win. Truman scored only six points in the second quarter and did not make a three-pointer for the first time since 2011, a span of 103 consecutive games. Michalina Tomczak (14) and Rachel Steinhoff (13) accounted for 27 of the 49 points for Truman. Both teams shot 35% from the field however MSSU's Sharese Jones and Deb Holcomb each scored 22 and 20 points respectively.

Truman 69, Hannibal-LaGrange 37 (Box Score) – The Truman defense turned up the pressure in the second half as they held the Trojans to a total of 14 points in the final 20 minutes to earn the victory. Once again, Truman used all 16 players on the roster with 14 scoring points. Michlina Tomczak led the squad with 16 points and six rebounds while adding two blocks. Truman found their three-point stroke by hitting six of 12 in the 32-point victory.

About The Bulldogs:
Head Coach Amy Eagan (41-22) enters her third season at the helm of the Bulldogs who were 16-11 last year and 10-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Truman returns 10 players and four starters off of last year's squad including seniors Courtney Strait (13.2 ppg/6.0 rpg) and Michalina Tomczak (10.6 ppg/6.6 rpg).

Truman was picked third in the GLVC West Division preseason coaches' poll. Drury (Mo.) was tabbed first followed by Quincy and the Bulldogs. Missouri-St. Louis, Maryville, William Jewell, Rockhurst and Missouri S&T rounded out the divisional slate.

Strait started all 27 games last season and shot 38% from the field with 39 three-pointers and 90% from the foul line. She scored in 20 points in four games a season ago and had a season-high of 22 against Kentucky Wesleyan. She had a pair of double-doubles and is among the career leaders in free throw shooting and three-point shooting at Truman.

Tomczak started all but two games as a junior and led the team with 39 blocks, which was ranked third in the conference. It was the fourth most in Truman single-season history. Tomczak averaged 6.6 rebounds per game and notched four double-doubles. She entered her final season sixth on the Bulldog Blocks list with 60 and three back of Jennifer Fisher for fifth overall.

A pair of freshman, one true freshman, are the other two returning starters. Ashley Hartwig started 26 games and averaged 6.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game and Rachel Steinhoff started all 27 with a 4.1 points per game mark and dished out 42 assists.

Other returners include seniors Kasey Gassensmith, Tawny Tucci, junior Linnea Schmelzer, sophomores Kennedy Martin, Montira Mosby, Sam Andrews and Ashley Ploudre (redshirt). Gassensmith brings 70 games of experience into the season with a career 45% field goal shooting percentage. Schmelzer has seen action in 40 career games, 17 last year. Martin played in 13 games as a freshman, scoring 24 points, Mosby was in eight games and made five of 10 field goal attempts and Andrews played in 24 while making one start. Ploudre played in 11 games during the 2013-14 season. Brook Bailey is a redshirt freshman.

Of the newcomers, Cassidy Clark is a junior transfer from Coal Valley, Illinois, via Kirkwood (Iowa) Community College. Clark started 67 out of a possible 69 games at Kirkwood leading the Eagles to a 56-13 record. She averaged eight points, five rebounds while being named to the all-NJCAA and All-Region IX Tournament teams. At Orion High School, she scored a career record 1,375 points with a single-game mark of 36 while earning AP Illinois Class 2A All-State honors twice.

Bethany Daniels, Rachel Edmundson and Mackenzie Jerks are the three true freshmen on the squad. Daniels averaged over 10 points and nearly 10 rebounds as a post player at Tri-City High School in Buffalo, Illinois. Edmundson is from Eldridge, Iowa and North Scott High School where she was a three year starter and an all-state selection. Jerks was a four-year starter leading the Bay Port High School team in Green Bay, Wisconsin in assists.

2015-16 Rule Changes:
Several rule changes go into effect this season. Among the more drastic changes will be the adoption of the quarter system. The game will still be 40 minutes long but instead of two 20-minute halves, the game will be divided into four 10-minute quarters. This change is to cut down on the number of timeouts as only one media timeout per quarter is permissible.
                Time Outs – Each team will have three 30-second timeouts and one full timeout for a game. Timeouts called by the defensive team in the final minute of the fourth quarter and overtimes will allow that team to advance the ball to the offensive end for the inbounds play.
                10-Second Backcourt – The 10-second count shall reset on all stoppages of the game clock except when the defense causes the ball to be out of bounds, the offense retains possession after a held ball, or there is a technical foul assessed to the offensive team.
                The Bonus – The One and One is no more. A team is awarded two free throws following the fifth team foul in each quarter. They will shoot two free throws for the remaining of that quarter only and team fouls will reset with the start of each quarter.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will open their third season of Great Lakes Valley Conference play next Thursday, December 3^rd against Rockhurst University in Pershing Arena.
The Hawks are 3-0 and will play Saint Mary (Kan.) and Lincoln (Mo.) prior to opening up GLVC play.

Following that, Truman will travel to William Jewell on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip against the Cardinals.

It will be the first of two against the Hawks and Cardinals as they are in the same pod with Truman and Quincy in the GLVC West Division. After two years with Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville in the pod, the conference switched teams around.

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Players Mentioned

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

#40 Sam Andrews: F; 5' 11"; Sophomore

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

#42 Ashley Hartwig: F; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#20 Kennedy Martin: F; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#35 Montira Mosby: F; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#13 Ashley Ploudre: G; 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore

#21 Linnea Schmelzer: G; 5' 8"; Junior

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

#40 Sam Andrews
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: F

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

#42 Ashley Hartwig
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: F

#20 Kennedy Martin
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: F

#35 Montira Mosby
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: F

#13 Ashley Ploudre
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#21 Linnea Schmelzer
: 5' 8"; Junior
: G

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

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

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

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