Women's Basketball 2/24/2015 4:32:00 PM

WBB Notes: Bulldogs Close Regular Season At Quincy Thursday

Truman Women's Basketball Game Notes
Thursday, February 26 vs. Quincy (Ill.) ~ 5:15 p.m. Quincy, Ill.
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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Riding a four-game winning streak, the Truman Women's Basketball team will look to close out the regular season with a victory over rival Quincy. A win for the Bulldogs would lock down the fifth seed for the upcoming GLVC Tournament.

About The Bulldogs (16-9, 10-7 GLVC):
Truman needed and got two big efforts last week to avenge a pair of earlier season losses. Against Maryville, Courtney Strait notched her second straight double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds and the Bulldogs held off the Saints in overtime 78-72. Truman had lost an eight-point lead at the end of regulation but outscored Maryville 12-6 in the extra period.

On Senior Day, Allie Norton scored 19 points and the Bulldogs were able to get to the free throw line in their 58-53 defensive win over Missouri-St. Louis. Truman forced 18 Triton turnovers and outscored the Tritons from the line 17-8 to earn the win.

With the wins, the Bulldogs are in the driver's seat for the fifth spot in the conference tournament. They sit at 10-8 in the GLVC, one game ahead of Quincy, Missouri-St. Louis, William Jewell and Bellarmine. A victory over the Lady Hawks on Thursday assures Truman of the fifth spot, a loss would send the Bulldogs into tie breaking scenarios with at least two, three or four teams.

Following Thursday's game, Truman will begin their defense of conference tournament title with the opening round game on Sunday. A victory there would send Truman to St. Charles, Missouri and the Family Arena for the GLVC Tournament next week.

Three Bulldogs are averaging in double-figures this season behind 15.7 points from Allie Norton. Courtney Strait is second at 13.4 points and Michalina Tomczak is third at 10.6 points per game. Norton is sixth in the conference in scoring and is second in three-pointers made per game at 2.92.

Strait is second in the GLVC in free throw shooting at 90.5% and ranked 10^th in Division II. She trails Drury's Annie Armstrong, who is leading the nation with a 96.1% free throw shooting percentage. Strait is 18^th in the GLVC in rebounds (5.9/g) and ninth in defensive boards (4.8/g).

Tomczak is 27^th in scoring in the conference, 11^th in rebounding (6.7/g), fourth in blocked shots (1.4/g) and 10^th in offensive rebounds (2.3/g).

As a team, Truman is shooting 40.2% from the field, 33.1% from three and 75.7% from the foul line. They average 66.4 points per game while allowing opponents 65.9 points on shooting percentages of 42% overall, 34% from three and 80% from the foul line.

Truman vs. Quincy (Thursday 5:15 p.m. Quincy, Ill.)

Series History: Truman has won five of the last six games between the two schools and the last three straight. The Lady Hawks still lead the all-time series with the Bulldogs 23-21 with their last win coming at home on December 7, 2013 79-75.

Series Notables: In the five games played between these two teams over the past two seasons, the statistics are nearly identical. Quincy has shot 42% from the floor, 32% (21-of-64) from three and 78% (50-of-64) from the foul line. Truman has shot 44% from the field, 39% (26-of-66) from three and 79% (68-of-86) from the foul line. The major difference in stats has been turnovers in which the Lady Hawks have turned it over 61 times (12.2/g) while Truman has had 39 turnovers (7.8/g).

The Lady Hawks have outscored the Bulldogs 141-131 in the first half of the last five games but Truman has dominated the second half with a 157-116 advantage (+41).

Quincy Last Time Out: Quincy won seven straight through the month of January but has gone 2-5 since. The Lady Hawks split their games within the pod last week with an overtime road loss at Missouri-St. Louis 80-75 and a dominating home win over Maryville 82-62. Maggie Cunningham tied the Tritons with a basket with three seconds remaining but Quincy did not make a field goal in the overtime period as they were outscored 11-6.
Against Maryville, Kara Gerbus led Quincy with 24 points and Erin Mennemeyer added 17 on 8-of-11 shooting. The Lady Hawks forced 21 turnovers and connected on 11 three-pointers in the win.

About the Lady Hawks: Quincy is 14-11 overall and 9-8 in the GLVC…they are 9-4 at home this year with conference home losses to Lewis, Wisconsin-Parkside, Indianapolis and Saint Joseph's…Carly Bettencourt is their leading scorer at 10.0 points per game but has missed the last three…Bettencourt is second in the GLVC in three-point shooting at 47% per game and averages 2.3 triples per contest…Maggie Cunningham is second in scoring at 9.1 points…Quincy has eight players averaging over six points per game and are third overall in scoring offense at 72.3 points per game…The Lady Hawks are second in the league in three-point shooting (37.9%) and first in threes per game at 7.84…Jeni Garber in her fourth season at Quincy.

Bulldog Notebook:

Three-Point Champion:
Senior Allie Norton is Truman's all-time career three-point shooter when she passed Wendi Sobaski (1997-02) 269 three-point total. Norton has 274 for her career and is second in career active NCAA Division II players in triples and seventh among all NCAA women's basketball players. Her 42.3% three-point percentage is third among active Division II players.

More Norton:
Norton is eighth on the Bulldog career scoring list with 1,325 points, fifth in career assists with 328 and second in starts made with 110. She is 30 points away from Sobaski on the scoring list, eight assists away from Lisa Jacques and just two starts and games played from the all-time record held by Carrol Jarrard.

Tomczak Block Party:
Junior Michalina Tomczak entered the season with 21 blocks, this season, Tomczak has 37 which is tied for sixth in a Truman single season with Amy Pillard (1995-96) and Jennifer Perkins (2000-01). She is two back from fourth and four back of Perkins' 2001-02 total of 41, third best.
Her career 58 blocks is tied for sixth on the all-time list with Pillard and five back of Jennifer Fisher's total of 63.

Strait Free Throws:
Junior Courtney Strait is currently the career-leader in Truman free throw percentage at 90.3%. She is shooting 90.5% from the line this season which 10th in Division II and second in the GLVC. Allie Norton is 45^th nationally and 11th in the GLVC this season with an 82.1% percentage and is second in career free throw shooting behind Strait at 86.4%. Megan Kahn's 83.0% was/is the Truman free throw mark.

Double-Figure Games:
Allie Norton has 72 career double-digit scoring nights with 11 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 21 of the last 22 games entering the weekend and all but two this season.

Courtney Strait has 39 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.

Michalina Tomczak has 19 double-figure scoring games with a career-high of 25 against Cameron (Okla.) earlier this season. Tomczak has four of the Bulldogs' six double-doubles with the most recent coming against Bellarmine when she went for 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Kasey Gassensmith has six, Ashley Hartwig has six and McKenzie Russell three of Bulldogs with more than one double-digit scoring games.

Saturday Postgame Notes:

The win clinched a home game for the opening round of the GLVC Postseason Tournament and marked the fourth straight year with at least 16 wins. That streak is the longest in program history.
The Bulldogs ran their streak to five years with at least 10 conference wins. Prior to the streak beginning in 2010-11, the program had just two seasons in which they had won 10 or more league games.
Senior Allison Wiese and redshirt junior Sarah Gaeddert made their first career starts as part of the regular season home finale.
It was the first win this season that Truman won the game despite losing the rebounding totals. UMSL had a 34-22 advantage on the glass.
Truman had six of their seven steals in the final 20 minutes and had just three turnovers in the second half. The Bulldogs outscored the Tritons 22-8 in points off of turnovers.
The Bulldog bench outscored the UMSL bench 24-5 however two regular starters, Michalina Tomczak and Ashley Hartwig had 16 of those 24 points.
The 10 three-pointers attempted were the fewest by the Bulldogs this season and fewest since a November 28, 2012 non-conference game against Rockhurst (78 games).

GLVC Tournament Update:
The GLVC Postseason Tournament is comprised of 12 teams with the top four teams (the number one team in each division and the next two with the best conference record) receiving an automatic bye to the St. Charles Family Arena.

Seeds five through 12 will play first round games on Sunday, March 1 on campus sites.

The 12 teams have been determined with the top four teams locked in with Drury, Lewis, Southern Indiana and UW-Parkside earning the first round byes. The Bulldogs have clinched a home first round game and are the only team in the eight team pack with a 10-7 conference record. A win for Truman against Quincy puts them at five in the tournament and will host the 12^th seed, which will be either Maryville, Indianapolis or Saint Joseph's (all tied at 7-10).

Regional Rankings Out This Week:
Regional rankings are published the last three Wednesdays by the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Committee. The Midwest region is comprised of the GLVC, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).

The tournament champions from the GLVC and GLIAC will earn two of the eight available seeds into the regional tournament. The remaining six spots are determined by selection criteria including regional wins, common opponents, strength of schedule and other factors.

In the first published rankings, Michigan Tech (GLIAC) was number one with Lewis and Drury going two and three. Wisconsin-Parkside (5) and Southern Indiana (6) represented the GLVC while Wayne St. (Mich). (4), Ashland (7), Grand Valley State (8) and Northern Michigan (9) were from the GLIAC. Cedarville from the G-MAC was tenth.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will make their fifth straight trip to a conference postseason tournament when they host a game on Sunday in Pershing Arena. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. Since it will be a tournament game, no season passes or player pass lists will be allowed for admission.

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Players Mentioned

#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

#05 Allison Wiese: G; 5' 9"; Redshirt Senior

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

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

Players Mentioned

#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

#05 Allison Wiese
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Senior
: G

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

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