NOTES: Top East Teams Pay Visit To Truman Women's Basketball

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

Game #15: Truman (8-6; 3-2 GLVC) vs. Southern Indiana (12-3, 4-0 GLVC)
When: Thursday, January 12, 2017 || 5:30 p.m.
Where: Kirksville, Missouri || Pershing Arena
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (GLVCSN) || Live Audio (KRES)

Media Notes (PDF)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Two of the Great Lakes Valley Conference heavyweights will be in Pershing Arena as the Bulldogs return home for a conference weekend slate of games. Truman will open up the weekend with a Thursday night contest against the University of Southern Indiana.

Bellarmine will be the opponent on Saturday afternoon as the two founding members of the GLVC will be making their first trips to Kirksville since 2014 and bring a combine 24-3 overall record plus a perfect 8-0 conference mark on the trip.

First up will be Southern Indiana and the red hot Screaming Eagles. USI brings the top scoring offense (81.0 ppg) and the top-scoring defense (55.7 ppg) into Thursday night's matchup. They are also among the conference leaders in field goal percentage, rebounding, blocked shots, assists and steals.

In the three previous conference matchups with USI it has been feast or famine. The Bulldogs won by 17 in the Screaming Eagles last trip to Kirksville in 2014 but lost by 12 in Evansville in 2015. Last year, also in Evansville, Truman won by 18 over USI 60-42 with the Bulldog bench outscoring the USI bench 22-0

Truman matched their season-best three-game winning streak by completing their sweep of Illinois Springfield and McKendree last Thursday and Saturday. Cassidy Clark was on a mission as she averaged 21 points with eight rebounds per game, six blocks and eight steals in the two wins to earn the GLVC Women's Basketball Player of the Week honor.

Clark shot 62% from the floor going 18-of-24 and 8-of-9 from the foul line while raising her season points average up to 15.4 points per game. She is ranked eighth in the overall conference scoring leaders and in conference only games she is fourth with a 19 point average in five league tilts. Her six blocks last week vaulted her into the Truman career top 10 and she now has 41 blocks in her two years at Truman. She has been the team's leading scorer in eight games and has been in double figures in 11 games, nine straight with a team high 29 against nationally-ranked Emporia State (Kan.) on November 25.

She is joined in double-figure scoring by Rachel Edmundson (11.9 ppg) and Ashley Hartwig (10.1 ppg). Edmundson is second on the team in three-pointers (20) and in field goal percentage (44.4%), she is ranked 19th in the conference in scoring. Hartwig is the top free throw shooter at 87% and is second on the team in steals with 14. She is ranked 19^th in rebounds and fourth in the league in free throw percentage.

Brooke Bailey is 11th in the conference in three-pointers made with 1.93 per game and had a team-leading 27 on the season. Bailey is averaging 9.6 points per game and has matched her single game high of six assists in each of the last two games played. Along with freshman Sloane Totta, Bailey has started all 14 games in the backcourt for the Bulldogs.

Truman, as a team, is averaging 72.1 points per night while allowing 63.7. They are shooting overall 41.2% from the field and 30.9% from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs make 6.4 three-pointers per game. Truman is shooting 71% from the foul line with Clark and Hartwig getting to the line the most at 49 and 48 times respectively.

Opponents have shot 40.0% from the field against Truman this year and 30.8% from three.

The Bulldogs are in the middle of the pack in most GLVC statistical categories. Their highest rankings are fourth in turnover margin at +3.14 and fifth in offensive rebounds.

About Southern Indiana
The Screaming Eagles went 14-13 last year and 7-11 in the GLVC but have been one of the team's to watch this season. They won 10 of their first 11 games before dropping a one-point affair to Ohio Dominican on December 30. They held William Jewell to 39 points last Thursday then outscored Rockhurst 84-79 on Saturday to move to 4-0 in the GLVC.

Four of their five starters average in double-figure scoring led by Kaydie Grooms at 16.4 points per game. Grooms leads the team in three-pointers made with 30 and shoots 47% from distance. She is also one of five USI players with more than 10 blocks on the season (14). The Screaming Eagles have 82 blocked shots through 14 games compared to opponents having only 26.

Hannah Wascher (12.5), Morgan Dahlstrom (10.5) and Tanner Marcum (10.0) are the other starters in double-figures. Marcum has 44 steals to lead the GLVC and also shoots 50% from three-point land. Marcum has dished out 48 assists with 18 turnovers.

Series History:
This will be the seventh meeting between Truman and Southern Indiana on the basketball court and fourth under the banner of the GLVC. The two teams have split the previous six games played with four of the six being played on USI's home court in Evansville.

The Bulldogs won the first meeting back in 1998 100-87 behind Head Coach Amy Eagan's school record 46 points. USI won the return game in Kirksville 82-78 in 1999. The other non-conference meeting was a 67-50 loss in Evansville in 2008.

McKendree Highlights:
The Bulldogs won their third straight and swept the road trip last week with the 73-64 win over McKendree on Saturday…The Bearcats scored the first nine points of the game with Truman coming out cold shooting…The Bulldogs made 2 of their first 15 shots but only trailed by six at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 3-of-4 shooting at the foul line…Truman scored 10 points off of six McKendree turnovers in the second quarter to double up the Bearcats 20-10 in that frame and led 28-24…Cassidy Clark scored nine points in the third quarter and Truman pushed their lead to eight points…Clark would go 9-of-11 from the field to tie for fifth in single-game field goal percentage in Truman history…she also matched her single-game highs in blocks (3) and steals (4)…Brooke Bailey equaled her single-game benchmark in assists with six…Montira Mosby tied career highs with three assists and six rebounds, five coming on the offensive end…The Bulldogs were called for just nine fouls while the opponents/home team were whistled for 26…Truman outscored the Bearcats 20-7 from the foul line…Truman won their seventh straight game over McKendree and 12^thout of 13 games overall.

Around the GLVC:
Only three teams have perfect records in conference play. Bellarmine and Southern Indiana are 4-0 and Drury is 5-0. Lewis fell from the unbeaten ranks with a 70-54 loss at Drury on Saturday.

???????Bellarmine remained steady at number four in the latest WBCA Coaches Poll followed by Drury at 12 and Lewis at 19.

That trip to Springfield dropped both Lewis players from atop the GLVC scoring ranks. Jessica Kelliher and Jamie Johnson dropped below 19 points (18.9 ppg) and now trail Rockhurst's Mary Dineen (19.8) in the scoring race. In conference only games, Kelliher is still leading that race over Dineen 21.0 to 20.2 points per game.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will host Bellarmine on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. It will be a women's single game only as the men will host the Knights on Friday night due to an exhibition game at Creighton (Neb.) on Saturday. Bellarmine will play at Quincy (Ill.) on Thursday night.

#BewareofDog

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Players Mentioned

#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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#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

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

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