Women's Basketball 1/13/2017 10:07:00 AM

NOTES: Bulldogs Host #4 Bellarmine On Saturday

Truman Women's Basketball Notes (January 14)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanStateWBB || #BewareofDog

Game #16: Truman (8-7; 3-3 GLVC) vs. #4 Bellarmine (13-1, 5-0 GLVC)
When: Saturday, January 14, 2017 || 1:00 p.m.
Where: Kirksville, Missouri || Pershing Arena
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (GLVCSN) || Live Audio (KRES)

Media Notes (PDF)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The backend of this week's GLVC slate sees the Truman Women's Basketball team play their second WBCA Top 5 team of the year when #4 Bellarmine visits for a Saturday matinee.

It will be Truman's third matchup with a Top 15 team as they knocked off #13 Grand Valley State 74-69 on November 13 but lost to #2 Emporia State 89-68 on November 25.

The Bulldogs were dealt a 72-67 home loss on Thursday night to Southern Indiana as the Screaming Eagles maintained pace with Bellarmine atop the GLVC East Division standings at 5-0.
Truman sits in a tie for third place in the West with William Jewell with each sporting a 3-3 conference mark.

The Knights won their first 12 games before falling to #1 Ashland 88-83 at home on December 30. They downed Quincy on Thursday 92-67 as they blitzed the Lady Hawks 50-32 in the second half. Bellarmine finished last season with a 24-4 overall record including a 92-74 victory at home against the Bulldogs on January 14.

In that contest, Sarah Galvin scored 23 points for the Knights and a huge second half push turned a one-point BU lead at half to a 18-point victory margin. Bellarmine outscored Truman 50-33 including 28 points in the fourth quarter. Five Truman players scored in double-figures with 15 each by Rachel Steinhoff and Ashley Hartwig.

Truman had their three-game winning streak snapped by Southern Indiana on Thursday night. Rachel Edmundson led Truman with 19 points and a career-high nine rebounds. The reigning GLVC Player of the Week, Cassidy Clark added 17 points and nine board while Ashley Hartwig (11) and Sloane Totta (10) were also in double-figures for the Bulldogs.

The game featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes with the latest tie coming at the 1:48 mark of the fourth quarter. Neither team hit a field goal down the stretch but USI went 9-of-10 at the foul line. In fact, nine of USI's 12 made free throws out of 19 attempts were made in the final 1:30 of the game.

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 last week to earn the first GLVC Player of the Week honors for Truman Women's Basketball. She is ranked eighth in the overall conference scoring leaders and in conference only games she is third with an 18.7 average in six 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 of the last nine games and has been in double figures in 12 games, 10 straight with a team high 29 against nationally-ranked Emporia State (Kan.) on November 25.

Edmundson has strung together back-to-back double-digit games going for 15 and 19 in her last two after scoring just four points in the two previous contests. She is second on the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game and second to Brooke Bailey in three-pointers made with 23. Bailey has 27.

Ashley Hartwig is three-points shy of 500 for her Truman career. She is the third player averaging double-figures with 10.1 points per night and is the top free throw shooter at 88.5% with 46 makes out of 52 attempts.

Freshman Sloane Totta along with Clark, Edmundson and Bailey, have started all 15 games for the Bulldogs this season with Hartwig making 14 starts.

Truman, as a team, is averaging 71.7 points per night while allowing 64.3. They are shooting overall 40.7% from the field and 31.2% from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs make 6.4 three-pointers per game. Truman is shooting 72% from the foul line.

Opponents have shot 40.6% from the field against Truman this year and 30.5% 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 Bellarmine
Bellarmine brings the third best scoring offense in the GLVC to Pershing Arena on Saturday with a 75.9 points per game average. Sarah Galvin leads the Knights at 16.3 points per game and 8.9 rebounds. Galvin makes her home at the free throw line as she has been there 95 times through the first 14 games (6.7/g) making 83% or 79 free throws this year. Bellarmine has shot 188 more free throws and made 130 more than their opponents this season.

???????Bellarmine are the defending GLVC Tournament Champions from last year having knocked off Quincy in the title game 89-79. They earned the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division II National Tournament but were bounced in the first round of the regionals by Saginaw Valley State 69-58.

The Knights shoot 42.2% from the floor, 30.4% from three and 71% from the line. Whitney Hartlage leads the team in three-pointers made with 30.

Series History:
Bellarmine and Truman first met for a non-conference game back in 1994 in Louisville with the Knights winning by two 98-96. In their only other visit to Kirksville, it was another memorable affair with Truman winning in double-overtime 100-88.

The two previous games were held in Louisville with the Knights prevailing in both. In 2015, Bellarmine overcame a 10-point deficit with just over a minute to play to stun the Bulldogs 61-58 and last year won going away in the second half 92-74 to put the most points up against Truman in a single-game all season.

Southern Indiana Recap:
The Screaming Eagles (13-2; 5-0 GLVC) and Bulldogs (8-7; 3-3 GLVC) played a tightly contested game from the start. Only once during the game did either team have a lead of more than seven points and there were 10 ties and 10 lead changes. The game was knotted at 30 at half but USI scored the first six out of the locker room to go up 36-30.

Edmundson's three-pointer put the Bulldogs up midway through the third quarter but the visitors regained the lead at the end of three on free throws by Tasia Brewer.

Tanner Marcum scored four straight to put USI up by their largest margin of seven with 4:47 to play at 63-56 but the Bulldogs battled back. Cassidy Clark made a free throw followed by a pair from Sloane Totta and a three-pointer by Totta pulled Truman back to within on at 63-62.

Following a pair of misses by USI, Edmundson grabbed a rebound. In the pursuit up the court, a technical foul was called against Hannah Wascher but Edmundson made 1-o- 2 from the line to draw the Bulldogs even at 63 apiece. Truman got possession following the free throws and Clark's shot rimmed off and was secured by Southern Indiana.

Kaydie Grooms put the Screaming Eagles back in front with two more makes from the line and Truman missed their final four field goal attempts while USI made 8 of 9 from the charity stripe to win. USI was 3-of-6 from the line in the three previous quarters but 9-of-12 in the crucial fourth.

Edmundson was 6-of-18 from the field with three from distance for 19 points and had nine rebounds. Clark added 17 points and nine board and Ashley Hartwig finished with 11 points. Truman shot 34% for the game and was 6-of-21 from three.

Marcum led USI with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting and Grooms finished with 19. Southern Indiana shot 48% from the floor and was 4-of-16 from range while adding seven blocked shots.

Around the GLVC:
All three undefeated teams in conference remained following Thursday's games. Bellarmine and Southern Indiana took care of business at Quincy and Truman while Drury held on for a 78-72 win at Saint Joseph's. The Lady Panthers have the longest active winning streak in the conference at six games.
Bellarmine remained steady at number four in the latest WBCA Coaches Poll followed by Drury at 12 and Lewis at 19.

Jessica Kelliher for Lewis leads the conference in overall scoring at 19.3 points per game followed by Rockhurst's Mary Dineen at 18.8 and Lewis' Jamie Johnson at 18.6. Illinois Springfield's Syerra Cunningham is the top rebounder at 11.9 boards per game.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will hit the road once again heading to the Gateway City for two more GLVC games next week. Truman will be at Maryville on Thursday night before wrapping up the trip at Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday afternoon.

#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

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

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

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