Truman Women Open Season On Road This Weekend

Truman Women's Basketball Notes (November 12-13)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanStateWBB || #BewareofDog

Game #1: Truman (0-0) vs. Northern Michigan (0-0)
When: Saturday, November 12, 2016 || 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Where: Allendale, Michigan || Grand Valley State University Fieldhouse Arena
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (YouTube) ||

Game #2: Truman (0-0) vs. #13 Grand Valley State (0-0)
When: Sunday, November 13, 2016 || 3:00 p.m. (ET)
Where: Allendale, Michigan || Grand Valley State University Fieldhouse Arena
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (YouTube) ||

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The 45^th season of Truman Women's Basketball will tip off this weekend at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference/Great Lakes Valley Conference Challenge in Allendale, Michigan.

The tournament features two teams from the GLIAC (Northern Michigan and Grand Valley State) and two teams from the GLVC (Truman and Quincy). The Bulldogs will play NMU on Saturday evening followed by a game against GVSU on Sunday afternoon.

The four teams opened the 2015-16 season last year in Quincy with Truman splitting with Grand Valley and Northern Michigan. The Bulldogs lost to the Lakers 77-61 before downing the Wildcats 71-54.

Truman is coming off a 20-10 overall record last year and won the most conference games (13) in program history. It was their third 20-win season out of the last four years and fourth overall 20-win campaign.

Head Coach Amy Eagan enters her fourth season as coach of her alma mater. Eagan is 58-30 in her three seasons at Truman and 134-110 in eight years as a collegiate head coach. She is joined on the bench by new assistant coach Theo Dean and graduate assistant coaches Quinn Rear and Brita Hand.

2015-16 Recap:
The Bulldogs posted statistically the best defensive performance in school history en route to their second 20-win season under Coach Eagan and fourth in school history. Truman held opponents to a school best 55.3 points allowed per game and kept 10 opponents under 50 points in individual games.

Truman set new school records in conference wins (13), conference winning percentage (.722), blocked shots (130) and defensive field goal percentage (35.7%).

The team finished third in the GLVC West Division and earned a home game in the conference tournament. They defeated Missouri-St. Louis 59-51 to advance to the finals site in St. Charles to square off against rival Quincy. The Lady Hawks downed the Bulldogs 62-42 in the quarterfinals.

Courtney Strait joined the 1,000 point club and led the Bulldogs in scoring at 10.5 points per game. The Bulldog senior earned all-GLVC honors along with fellow senior Michalina Tomczak. Strait ended her career fourth on the Truman three-point field goal made charts with 154, seventh in free throws made with 312 and eighth in free throws attempted with 361. Her .864 free throw shooting percentage tops all of Truman Women's Basketball and she played in the most games in a Bulldog uniform with 115. Tomczak had the second most blocked shots in a season with 59 and finished second on the career blocks list with 119.

Truman Exhibition Games:
The Bulldogs tested themselves against the top two teams in the state of Missouri during a pair of exhibition games. Truman lost to Missouri State University 72-62 on November 1^st and the University of Missouri 87-53 on November 7^th. The Lady Bears were the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champions and the Tigers came in this season ranked 24^th in Division I.

Missouri State 72, Truman 62 (Box Score)

Freshman Sloane Totta led Truman with 16 points on four three-pointers. Sophomore Brooke Bailey added 14 with four treys as well. Truman shot 33 three-pointers but were outrebounded 47-26 against the Lady Bears.

Missouri 87, Truman 53 (Box Score)

Three Bulldogs scored in double-figures led by senior Cassidy Clark's 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting. She was joined in double digits by sophomore Rachel Edmundson (10) and junior Rachel Steinhoff (10). Truman made 8-of-25 three-point attempts but were again outrebounded by nearly double 49-24.

About The 2016-17 Bulldogs:

Junior guard Rachel Steinhoff (8.6 ppg/3.1 apg), center Cassidy Clark (6.9 ppg/24 blks) along with forward Ashley Hartwig (5.9 ppg/5.2 rpg) are the three returning starters from last year's team. Joining them is a host of key contributors from a year ago. Sophomores Brooke Bailey (3.0 ppg) and Rachael Edmundson (2.4 ppg) appeared in nearly all games last season. Those two with juniors Sam Andrews (1.9 ppg) Montira Mosby (0.9 ppg) and Kennedy Martin (3.2 ppg) and sophomore Mackenzie Jerks (2.3 ppg) make up the rest of the returning letterwinners.

The newcomers on this year's squad are junior Jamie Gleeson from Willison (N.D.) College and freshmen Sloane Totta (Fulton, Mo.), Eleanor Lueke (Kansas City, Mo.), Taylor Koper (Raymore, Mo.) and Maddie Tharp (Corcoran, Minn.).

Scouting The Warriors:
Northern Michigan was 13-16 last season and 12-10 in the GLIAC…they lost to the Bulldogs 71-54 last year in Quincy's Pepsi Arena in game number two of the season…lost to Wisconsin-Green Bay in an exhibition game 76-34 on November 3…Baleigh Delorit led team with 11 points in the exhibition game…Bre Gaspervich led NMU last year with 12.0 ppg…team averaged 55.7 points offensively and allowed 63.2 defensively.

Scouting The Lakers:
Grand Valley State advanced to the Division II Final Four last year and were ranked eighth in the season ending poll but 13^th in the preseason coaches poll… they return all five starters from last year's 26-10 team including leading scorer Kayla Dawson at 14.6 points per game…Lakers averaged 71.4 points and gave up 57.4 points per game…they made 325 three-pointers (9.0/g) and shot 37% from long range.

Up Next:
Truman will play a pair of home games next week in Pershing Arena. The Bulldogs will welcome Central Christian College on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. and Upper Iowa as part of a men's and women's doubleheader on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. There will be no admission charged for home games until the conference home opener on January 12.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#02 Brooke Bailey: G; 5' 6"; Redshirt Sophomore

#34 Cassidy Clark: C; 6' 2"; Senior

#31 Rachel Edmundson: F; 6' 0"; Sophomore

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

#01 Mackenzie Jerks: G; 5' 8"; Sophomore

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

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

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

#04 Sloane Totta: G; 5' 9"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#02 Brooke Bailey
: 5' 6"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#34 Cassidy Clark
: 6' 2"; Senior
: C

#31 Rachel Edmundson
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: F

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

#01 Mackenzie Jerks
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: G

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

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

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

#04 Sloane Totta
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: G