Truman Heads To Quincy For Tip-Off Classic

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The second of four weekend soirees is on tap as the Truman Women's Basketball team puts their 3-0 record on the line at the Quincy Subway Tip-Off Classic. The Bulldogs will face Wayne (Neb.) State College on Friday and Winona (Minn.) State on Saturday.

The Bulldogs went 2-0 in last week's gathering in Nashville, Tennessee as they downed Trevecca Nazarene 59-45 and Kentucky Wesleyan 71-59. They opened the home portion of their schedule with a convincing 84-67 win over Missouri Western State University on Tuesday night.

Truman is 3-0 for the first time since the 2013-14 season and will be looking for their first 5-0 start since the 2012-13 campaign. The school record for consecutive wins to start a year is seven set back in the 1998-99 school year.

Four Truman players are averaging 10 points per game. Sloane Totta, Katie Jaseckas and Maddie Re are all at 10.3 points with 31 points in the three games and Brooke Bailey has scored 30 points (10.0/g) in her first three outings. Re has double-doubles in consecutive games with 11 points and 16 rebounds against Kentucky Wesleyan and 15 points and 11 boards against the Griffons.

This will be the seventh time Truman has played in the Quincy Tip-Off Classic with the last coming in the 2015-16 season. The Bulldogs split games with Grand Valley (Mich.) State (77-61) and Northern Michigan (71-54) that year. Truman has split their pair of games at the Classic the last four times (2015, 2004, 2001 and 2000) and lost both games in 1991 and 1987. Truman has won their last two games played in Pepsi Arena, both against the Lady Hawks. They won 73-63 last season and 62-42 in 2017.

About The Wildcats:

Wayne State began their season with a pair of wins. They defeated Northwest Missouri State 75-58 and Nebraska-Kearney 69-52 in games played at home last weekend. The Wildcats were 25-7 last season and 18-4 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Despite the lofty record last year, Wayne was picked 10th in the NSIC preseason coaches poll and sixth in the conference's South Division.

The Wildcats graduated three of their top four scorers last season and new head coach Brent Pollari steps in to lead the team. They have won 23 or more games in seven of the last nine seasons. Sophomore Erin Norling headlines four players averaging double-figures after the opening weekend. Norling averaged 15 points and eight rebounds in Wayne's first two wins. Halley Busse (14.0), Haley Vesey (11.0) and Andrea Larson (10.5) have helped WSC score 72.0 points per game and allow 55.0 points.

History With Wayne:
This will be the first meeting since December 1994 between the two schools. Wayne won 85-65 on their home floor. They defeated, then Northeast Missouri, 102-90 in 1993 in Pershing Arena. The Bulldogs only win came in 1980, 59-56 in a tournament played in Fremont, Nebraska.

About the Warriors:
Winona State will be making their regular season debut this weekend. They will first take on host Quincy on Friday. The Warriors were 17-13 a year ago and 10-12 in the NSIC. They advanced all the way to the NSIC tournament championship game last year before falling to #10 Augustana 64-45. They played a pair of exhibition games against Iowa State and Saint Mary's University.

The Warriors return the NSIC Freshman of the Year in Allie Pickrain. She led the conference in shooting from three at 43% last season and averaged 12.8 points per game. Pickrain made 74 three-pointers. Winona was picked seventh overall out of the 16 teams in the NSIC and fourth in the South Division.

History With Winona:
While this will be the first meeting between the two schools, head coach Scott Ballard is no stranger to those familiar with Bulldog Basketball. Ballard got his collegiate coaching start at Missouri Southern State University in 1990 then moved to the University of Central Missouri in 1995. He was the headman of the Jennies until 2004 and is 19-5 in games against the purple and white of Truman.

Around the GLVC:
After the first full week of action, six teams have not tasted defeat yet. Drury and Truman are both 3-0 while Bellarmine, Rockhurst (2-0) and Missouri S&T and William Jewell (1-0) are undefeated.

Drury's Hailey Diestelkamp (24.0), Quincy's Maddie Spagnola (20.0) and Lewis' Jessica Kelliher (20.0) are leading the league in scoring thus far. Truman's Maddie Re and Diestelkamp are tied for top honors on the rebounding chart at 10.7 per game. Kelliher won the GLVC Player of the Week after the opening weekend of play.

Truman 84, Missouri Western 67:
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – A 17-4 finish by the Truman Women's Basketball team lifted the Bulldogs to 3-0 on the young season as they downed Missouri Western 84-67 in the regular season home debut.

Katie Jaseckas, who knocked down a big three pointer to give Truman the lead at the half, finished with a game-high 18 points. Redshirt freshman Maddie Re notched her second double-double in consecutive games with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Griffons (2-1) led 23-13 early in the second quarter behind a fiery start by Katrina Roenfeldt. The junior connected on all three three-point attempts and finished with 20 points in the contest.

Western had a chance to go for the last shot and take the lead into the locker room at half but Melia Richardson took an ill-advised shot with 16 seconds left and Rachel Edmundson gathered in the rebound. Tiffany Davenport found Jaseckas alone at the top of the arc and she rained in a triple as the buzzer sounded, giving Truman a 34-33 advantage.

The Bulldogs would fly into the third quarter scoring 30 points while getting to the free throw line 14 times, making 11. The Bulldogs took a nine-point advantage at 64-53 with 1:48 left.

Western scored eight straight to climb back to within three at 64-61early in the fourth but Re knocked down a triple to squelch the rally. Truman scored 17 of the final 21 points in the game and pulled away for the win.

Truman shot 47% overall and made 8-of-22 from outside and 22-of-33 at the line. They won the glass for the third straight game claiming 39 boards to the Griffons' 25. Truman had 16 on the offensive end and outscored Western 20-5 in second chance points.

Jaseckas was 5-of-8 from the field with two threes and 6-of-8 at the line for her first double-digit scoring game of the season. Sloane Totta added 13 points and Brooke Bailey poured in 10.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs head to Springfield, Missouri for tournament number three. They will play Davenport (Mich.) on Friday and future GLVC member Lindenwood on Saturday with both games tipping off around 7:45 p.m. The tournament is hosted by Drury University.

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