Women's Basketball 2/27/2015 12:05:00 PM

WBB Notes: Truman Opens Defense Of GLVC Tournament Title

Truman Women's Basketball Game Notes
Sunday, March 1 vs. Univ. of Indianapolis (Ind.) ~ 1:00 p.m. Kirksville, Mo.
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GLVC Stats	GLVC Standings	NCAA Stats

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Women's Basketball team will begin defense of their Great Lakes Valley Tournament Championship when they host the University of Indianapolis in the opening round game of the 2015 GLVC Postseason Tourney on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Ticket Information:
All tickets, including those for adults, seniors and children over 10 are $5.00 for the opening round game in Pershing Arena. The first 250 Truman Students will be admitted free. There are no pass lists available and season passes cannot be used. Ticket tables will open one hour prior to tipoff.

What's At Stake:
The winner of Sunday's game will advance to the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri for the quarterfinal round of the GLVC Tournament. If seeds hold true on Sunday between the four opening round games, Truman would face #3 Southern Indiana on Friday, March 6. However, teams will be reseeded after the opening round to assure that top-seeded Drury (Mo.) will face the highest remaining seed.

The overall winner of the GLVC Tournament will earn the league's automatic qualification into the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship. That tournament gets underway with the regional round on Friday, March 13. The 64-team bracket will be announced on Sunday, March 8 with the GLVC and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference tournament winners joining six other "at-large" schools in the regional bracket.

Truman Postseason Tournament History:
This is the Bulldogs fifth straight conference tournament appearance and 14^th overall tournament trip since league began having them in 1983. Truman is 7-12 in conference tournament games all-time and 2-1 in games played in Pershing Arena when opening round games are needed.

Last year, Truman won all four games in the GLVC Tournament as the seventh seed to capture their first overall conference title. They defeated William Jewell (70-58), Lewis (84-70), Quincy (68-54) and Maryville (58-45).

Truman vs. Indianapolis (Sunday, March 1 – Kirksville, Mo.)

Series History: This will be the third meeting in the last two years between the Bulldogs and the Greyhounds with each winning on their home court. Truman defeated UIndy 63-52 in Kirksville on February 14. The all-time series between the two schools is led by the Greyhounds 5-3.

Indianapolis Last Time Out: The Greyhounds won a thriller in triple overtime against Saint Joseph's on Thursday night at home 82-81. The Pumas led by four with 18 seconds left in the first OT but Kelly Walter raced down the court and beat the buzzer to send the game to double OT with a basket. In the third OT, Lauren Davis from SJC missed her shot at the end to give the Greyhounds the win. Walter scored 26 points in 53 minutes with Nicole Anderson and Sarah Costello adding 20 and 17 apiece.

About the Greyhounds (11-15; 8-10 GLVC): Indianapolis enters the tournament as the 11^th seed and are making their eighth straight GLVC Postseason Tournament appearance…they won the title in 2003 against Quincy…finished February with a 2-7 record and were 3-10 overall on the road this season…Princess German was first in conference games and second overall in scoring…German averaged 20.6 in 18 conference games and 17.9 in 24 overall contest…Kelly Walter was fifth in conference only scoring at 16.2 per game and second in three-pointers made at 3.00 per game…The Greyhounds average 66.9 in league games and allowed 70.7 points…they made 7.56 three-pointers per game, second in conference only stats…Constantin Popa is in his fourth season as head coach and guided the Greyhounds to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

About The Bulldogs (16-10, 10-8 GLVC): Truman is the sixth seed in the tournament and making their second straight GLVC and fifth straight conference tournament appearance…the Bulldogs won the tournament in their first attempt last season as they went 4-0 as the seventh seed and were the highest seeded team to win the championship…the Bulldogs were 9-3 at home this season and are 42-9 in Pershing Arena since 2011…posted a 4-3 record during the month of February…Allie Norton is seventh overall and ninth in conference only scoring…averages 15.3 per game and 14.8 in GLVC contest…Norton is third in three-pointers per game at 2.67 and fifth in assist/turnover ratio 1.78…Courtney Strait is fifth in conference free throw shooting at 88.7%...Michalina Tomczak is tied for first in conference blocks per game at 1.83 and is tied for ninth in rebounds at 6.8…Truman averages 63.1 points per game and 64.4 points allowed in conference…the Bulldogs have won 16 games or more for the fourth straight season and 10 or more conference games for the fifth consecutive year.

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 275 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 42.0% three-point percentage is third among active Division II players.

More Norton:
Norton is eighth on the Bulldog career scoring list with 1,331 points, fifth in career assists with 329 and second in starts made with 111. She is 24 points away from Sobaski on the scoring list, seven assists away from Lisa Jacques and with Sunday's start, will tie Carrol Jarrard for the all-time record in both games played and started for a Bulldog.

Tomczak Block Party:
Junior Michalina Tomczak entered the season with 21 blocks, this season, Tomczak has 38 which is sixth in a Truman single season. She is one back from fourth and three back of Perkins' 2001-02 total of 41, third best.

Her career 59 blocks is sixth on the all-time list four 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 90.0%. She is shooting 89.9% from the line this season which 10th in Division II and second in the GLVC. It is the sixth-best single-season mark for a Bulldog play as her 2012-13 mark of 91.7% set the new standard. Megan Kahn's 83.0% was/is the Truman career 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 23 games entering the weekend and all but three this season.

Courtney Strait has 40 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 20 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.

Thursday Postgame Notes:

Quincy's win broke a three-game skid against the Bulldogs and maintained the Lady Hawks all-time series lead at 24-22.
It was the first game this season that Truman had more field goals (19) than their opponent (17) and lost the game.
The Lady Hawks missed just one free throw each half, making 6-of-7 in the first and 19-of-20 in the second. It was the third time this season than an opponent shot over 90% from the line against Truman.
For the second straight game, Truman lost the glass by 12 boards. Quincy had 15 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second chance points.
Allie Norton and Courtney Strait each played 38 minutes while Michalina Tomczak was on the court for 35. No other Bulldog played more than 20. The trio had 31 of Truman's 50 shots and 12 of their 19 made field goals.
Maggie Cunningham led Quincy with 38 minutes of action while the eight other Lady Hawk players played over 15 minutes.
Quincy earned the five seed with the win and will host 12^th-seeded .

Regional Rankings 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 second published rankings, Lewis earned the top spot and was joined by three other GLVC schools, Drury (3), UW-Parkside (5) and Southern Indiana (6). Michigan Tech was second with Wayne St. (4), Ashland (7), Grand Valley State (8) and Northern Michigan (9) out of the GLIAC. Cedarville (10) represented the G-Mac with a 20-3 in-region record.

First Two Years In GLVC Play:
In 2013-14, the Bulldogs were 12-6 in conference games with a scoring average of 79.6 points per game. The Bulldogs shot 43% from three and went to the line 487 times (21.6 made per game). Truman went 6-2 against the East Division and 6-4 in games played against the West.

In 2014-15, the Bulldogs were 10-8 in the GLVC with a scoring average of 63.1 points per game (-16.5). Truman shot 28% from three and went to the line 343 times (14.4 made per game). The Bulldogs were 4-4 against the East and 6-4 against the West.

Up Next:
If Truman wins, they will advance to the Family Arena in St. Charles for a Friday game against Southern Indiana, if seeds hold true. Game times will be determined on Monday. In addition, the all-GLVC team will be announced during the week.

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Players Mentioned

#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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#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

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

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