NOTES: Women Seeking Third Straight Win Saturday At McKendree

Truman Women's Basketball Notes (January 7)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanStateWBB || #BewareofDog

Game #14: Truman (7-6; 2-2 GLVC) vs. McKendree (9-4, 0-3 GLVC)
When: Saturday, January 7, 2017 || 1:00 p.m.
Where: Lebanon, Illinois || Melvin Price Convocation Center/Harry Statham Court
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (GLVCSN) || Live Audio (KRES)

Media Notes (PDF)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Bulldog Women will be looking to match their longest winning streak of the season when they travel to Lebanon, Illinois for a Great Lakes Valley Conference game against McKendree University on Saturday.

Truman dispatched Illinois Springfield on Thursday night 76-71 after having to survive a late surge by the Prairie Stars. The Bulldogs led by 10 on six different occasions but UIS pulled even late in the fourth quarter. Cassidy Clark scored her third 20+ point game of the season as she tallied a game high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting. Rachel Edmundson and Eleanor Lueke scored 10 apiece and the Bulldogs blocked seven UIS shots en route to the win.

McKendree had their five-game winning streak snapped at home as Quincy picked up the 64-61 win. Quincy scored 14 of the first 16 points in the fourth quarter to break a 37-all tie and led by 10 with 1:25 left before the Bearcats attempted a late comeback. McKendree got it to six on three separate occasions in the final minute before Jordan Heberg knocked down a three-pointer with one second left to make the final margin of loss three points. Ellie Pusheck scored 15 points to lead the Bearcats and Amber Alexander tallied 11.

Truman has won the last six meetings with McKendree including the previous three played under the GLVC banner. The Bulldogs won 60-49 last year in Kirksville. Courtney Strait knocked down a shot from distance to break a 34-34 tie late in the third quarter and the Bulldogs built on that shot and scored 13 of the next 15 points to take command of the contest. Ashley Hartwig led all scorers with 13 points.

Senior Cassidy Clark leads Truman in scoring at 14.9 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per night. Clark is shooting 52% from the field and also leads the team in blocks (14), steals (18) and offensive rebounds (33). Clark is 10^th in the GLVC in scoring, sixth in rebounding and 11^th in field goal percentage. She is also 10^th in blocks, eighth in offensive rebounds and fifth in defensive boards. She has been the team's leading scorer in seven games thus far and has been in double figures in 10 games, eight 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 (11.7 ppg) and Ashley Hartwig (10.6 ppg). Edmundson is second on the team in three-pointers (17) and in field goal percentage (45.1%), she is ranked 21st in the conference in scoring. Hartwig is the top free throw shooter at 86% and is second on the team in steals with 14. She is ranked 28^th in scoring, 16^th in rebounds and third in the league in free throw percentage.

Brooke Bailey is 11th in the conference in three-pointers made with 1.92 per game and had a team-leading 25 on the season. Bailey is averaging 9.5 points per game and along with freshman Sloane Totta, has started all 13 games in the back court for the Bulldogs.

Truman, as a team, is averaging 72.0 points per night while allowing 63.7. They are shooting overall 41.4% from the field and 30.5% from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs make 6.4 three-pointers per game. Truman is shooting 72% from the foul line with Clark and Hartwig getting to the line the most at 46 and 44 times respectively.

Opponents have shot 39.7% from the field against Truman this year and 30.4% from three.

The Bulldogs are in the middle of the pack in most GLVC statistical categories. Their highest rankings are fifth in Free Throw Shooting, Turnover Margin, Offensive Rebounds and Three-pointers made per game.

About McKendree:
McKendree will be wrapping up a 10-game homestand with Saturday's game against Truman. They had won five straight until Quincy defeated them 64-61 on Thursday night. The Bearcats are still looking for their first conference win as they dropped home league games to Bellarmine (50-37) and Southern Indiana (66-40).

The Bearcats are second in the league in scoring defense at allowing 55.5 points per game as they are also second in defensive rebounds. However, McKendree is last in the conference in three-pointers made per game with 2.31 with only 30 makes this season. The next highest three-point total in the conference is Missouri-St. Louis' 44 makes from distance.

McKendree does not have any of the top 30 scorers in the conference and have no player averaging over 10 points per game. Ellie Pusheck leads the team at 9.3 points per game followed by
Emily Pusheck at 8.8. Jordan Heberg (13) and Amber Alexander (10) have 23 of the team's 30 three-pointers. The turnover bug also hits McKendree with an average of over 20 per game.

The team shoots 44% from the field and 71% from the free throw line while opponents shoot 36% overall, 32% from three and 65% from the line.

Series History:
The schools first met in 1985 in Lebanon with Truman, then Northeast Missouri, winning 74-60. They played seven times from 1985 through 1988 with the Bulldogs winning six of the seven. The only loss was a 71-64 McKendree win in 1988.

The teams resumed the series in 2012 with a pair of non-conference games, both won by Truman.

The Bulldogs have won all five games since 2012 by double-digits but the margin has closed a bit. After winning the first two games by 22 and 30 points respectively, the Bulldogs have won the last three by margins of 15, 12 and 11.

Illinois Springfield Highlights:
Truman strung back-to-back win for the first time since the first week of the season in downing the Prairie Stars 76-71 on Thursday night…the Bulldogs led by one at the end of one but built up a 10-point lead following a 12-2 run midway through the second quarter…Eleanor Lueke and Mackenzie Jerks provided the spark off the bench with a pair of three-pointers during the run…Lueke hit another triple at the halfway point of the third quarter to push the lead back to 10, she finished 4-of-5 from the field for 10 points…Truman had their final 10 point lead at 65-55 with 6:01 to play but UIS would come all the way back to tie the game at 68 apiece with 1:24 left…after UIS missed one of two free throws in an attempt to tie with 28 seconds left, Sloane Totta knocked down her only free throw attempts to put Truman up by three…Clark finished with 23 points, her third 20-point game of the season and had a career high four steals, matched her career high with three blocks and went 5-of-6 from the free throw line…her three blocks of Truman's season-high seven, pulled her to within one of cracking the Truman Top 10 in blocked shots, one back of Sarah Seberger's 39…Truman also had a season-high 12 steals.

Around the GLVC:
Rockhurst and McKendree had the longest winning streaks entering Thursday's play but both were defeated. The Hawks lost on the road to #4 Bellarmine 81-75 and the Bearcats lost by three to Quincy. Five of the eight GLVC games on Thursday night were won by the road teams.

Drury (#12 – 12-2) and Lewis (#16 – 12-2) are the other two GLVC schools currently ranked in the Division II Top 25.

The Flyers' Jessica Kelliher and Jamie Johnson are the top two scorers in the GLVC at 19.5 and 19.3 points per game respectively. Rockhurst Mary Dineen is third at 19.2 points per night.

Southern Indiana (11-2) has the top scoring team in the GLVC at 82.8 ppg and McKendree has the best defensive team in points allowed at 54.8.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will see two of the top three teams out of the East Division at home next weekend. Truman will host Southern Indiana on Thursday night and Bellarmine on Saturday afternoon. Those two schools are a combine 22-3 entering Saturday's slate of games.

#BewareofDog

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Players Mentioned

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

#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

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

#05 Eleanor Lueke: G; 5' 10"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

#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

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

#05 Eleanor Lueke
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: G