Women's Basketball 11/28/2018 12:49:00 PM

Conference Season Begins For Truman Women's Basketball

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Women's Basketball team received votes in this week's WBCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll and will open up Great Lakes Valley Conference play with a pair of home games.

The Bulldogs are 6-1 on the season and will host Rockhurst (3-1) and William Jewell (3-2) on Thursday and Saturday respectively. Truman was one of 13 additional teams outside the Top 25 to pick up votes from coaches. The last mention of Truman in the poll was in the final regular season survey in the 2014 season.

Truman will be looking to rebound after a humbling 94-83 loss to Lindenwood University on Saturday night. The Lions led by as many as 24 points before Sloane Totta scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to the eventual 11-point defeat.

The night before, Truman led wire-to-wire for the first time all season in downing Davenport (Mich.) 81-66. Katie Jaseckas scored 18 points and Brooke Bailey added 17 with six assists. It was their sixth straight win to start the season and matched the 2011-12 season as the second best start to a year with six in-a-row. The record was seven set in the 1998-99 campaign.

This will be the third time in six GLVC seasons that Truman will open up with the Hawks and Cardinals. The Bulldogs split with the two in 2015, defeating Jewell but losing to the Hawks and falling to both to start the 2016-17 conference year.

Splitting is what the Bulldogs did with both teams last season. Truman won at Rockhurst 75-52 but lost the return bout in Kirksville 54-48. The Cardinals defended their home court 52-49 and Truman did the same winning 61-56.

Rockhurst has had a light start to their season. The Hawks have played two Division II games, an overtime win to Adams State (Colo.) 82-79 and loss to Washburn 69-49 and two NAIA wins over Saint Mary (Kan.) 92-56 and Avila (Kan.) 106-63. Sprinkled in were three Division I exhibition losses to Southeast Missouri State (78-51), Oral Roberts (Okla.) (95-31) and Bradley (Ill.) 83-40.

William Jewell has wins over Missouri Western (68-61), Northwest Missouri (67-43) and Adams State (67-52) and losses to Black Hills State (S.D.) (66-62) and Southwest Minnesota State (90-67). Jewell will lift the lid on their conference season on Thursday night at Quincy before traveling to Kirksville for Saturday's tilt.

Following Saturday's game, Truman will play an exhibition game against Columbia (Mo.) College on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Poll History:
With the votes received in this week's WBCA Division II poll, Truman returns for the first time since the April 1, 2014 edition. Truman was listed in the poll 12 times during that season in which Truman went 22-9. They were in the top 25 on three occasions, peaking at number 19 on February 5.

Drury (Mo.) was listed at number eight and Lewis (Ill.) at number 24 to round out the GLVC mentions in the poll.

Bulldogs In The GLVC:

Truman is 55-35 (.611) in GLVC games since joining the league in 2013-14. That winning percentage is the fifth best among all GLVC schools trailing Drury (.922), Lewis (.878), Southern Indiana (.733) and Bellarmine (.633).

The Bulldogs are 18-4 in GLVC Thursday night games at home and have won their last seven dating back to January 2017.

Bulldog Bites:

Truman is averaging 72 points per game with a high of 84 against Missouri Western and a low of 59, twice.
The Bulldogs largest margin of win this season is 17 points over Missouri Western and has won by double-figures in four of the six wins.
Truman has won the glass in five of the seven games with a margin of 22 against Kentucky Wesleyan being the largest. The Bulldogs won the rebounding battle in 18 games last season and won 11 of those games.
The same five have started all seven games, Brooke Bailey, Katie Jaseckas, Sloane Totta, Rachel Edmundson and Tiffany Davenport.
Ten players have played in all seven games and each has averaged over 10 minutes per game.
Katie Jaseckas and Sloane Totta have the single-game high in points this year with 18. Jaseckas had accomplished it twice against Davenport and Missouri Western while Totta hit a career-high 18 against Lindenwood. Jaseckas has scored in double-figures in 18 career games and has seven double-doubles.
Totta eclipsed the quarter record for points in the game against Lindenwood. Totta scored 16 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter to break Courtney Strait's mark of 14 in the fourth quarter against Illinois Springfield in 2016.
Maddie Re has both double-doubles this season and has pulled down 8.9 rebounds per game, good for fifth among all GLVC rebounders.
The Bulldogs have won two games this year when entering the fourth quarter trailing. Since the quarter system started in 2014-15, Truman is 5-30 when trailing entering the fourth quarter. When leading entering the fourth, Truman is 51-6.
Amy Eagan is six wins shy of tying the Bulldog career coaching record. She has 94 wins. Mary Jo Murray had 100 wins in her seven seasons from 1976-1983.
Rachel Edmundson is the active career leader in points scored with 690. Edmundson averages 7.0 points per game and has scored in double-figures 31 times in her career.
Brooke Bailey has cracked the Truman top 10 in three-pointers made with 100. She will pass Sarah Sommer with two more. Allie Norton is the career three-point leader at Truman with 277.
In conference statistics, Truman is seventh in scoring offense (72.0), sixth in scoring defense (63.6), fourth in free throw percentage (.756) and fourth in field goal percentage (.386).

About The Rockhurst Hawks:

Rockhurst was 10-16 last season overall and 6-12 in the GLVC. They finished the conference season dropping their last four games and missed the conference tournament.

In the four regular season games this season, the Hawks are averaging 82.3 points offensively and 66.8 points on the defensive end. They are making 8.8 three-pointers per night with a 37% three-point shooting percentage.

Madeline Ronshausen is leading the team in scoring at 17 points per game and Lauren Krissman has come off the bench and scored 16.3 points per game. Ronshausen in 29 minutes per game is shooting 42% from the field and had 10 three-pointers to lead the squad. She also leads the team in assists with three per contest and was a second team all-GLVC performer last year as a sophomore.

Rockhurst was picked ninth in the coaches preseason poll with 81 points.

About the William Jewell Cardinals:
The Cardinals were slotted 10^thin the GLVC coaches' poll to start the season with 75 points. Jewell was 9-9 last year and was the eighth seed in the conference tournament. They were eliminated by top-seed Southern Indiana 64-54.

This year's version of the Cardinals is averaging 66.2 points per game while giving up 62.4 points. They make 5.4 three-pointers per game with a 28% shooting percentage from outside.

Jewell has three players playing over 30 minutes per game and two more starters at 28 minutes a night. Antionette Mussorici, a freshman, is leading the Cardinals in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Kayla Harrell is second at 12.4 points and Sydney Offield is third at 10 points per game. Harrell was named to the third team all-GLVC last season.

Around the GLVC:
The conference season will begin with only two unbeaten teams remaining, Drury (6-0) and Bellarmine (5-0). There are four one-loss teams, including Truman.

Lewis' Jessica Kelliher was named the GLVC Player of the Week for the second time this season. Kelliher averages 23.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game to back up her All-America honors from last season. Hailey Diestelkamp of Drury is second in scoring at 19.5 points per game.

Truman Individual Conference Rankings:
Scoring: Brooke Bailey (11.9/22^nd); Katie Jaseckas (11.6/25^th)
Rebounding: Maddie Re (8.9/5^th)
Field Goal Percentage: Katie Jaseckas (.585/7^th)
Assists: Brooke Bailey (3.43/10^th)
Free Throw Percentage: Allison Thomas (.871/6^th); Brooke Bailey (.850/T10th); Rachel Edmundson (.824/14^th)
Blocked Shots: Katie Jaseckas (6/13^th)
Assist/Turnover Ratio: Brooke Bailey (1.26/12^th)
Offensive Rebounds: Maddie Re (2.57/9^th); Katie Jasekcas (2.43/12^th)
Defensive Rebounds: Maddie Re (6.29/4^th)
Minutes Played: Brooke Bailey (27.5/30^th)

Up Next:
Truman has a light December schedule due to finals and the Christmas holiday period. The Bulldogs will play an exhibition game against Columbia College at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday (admission is free) then will next take to the court December 17-18 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

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