NOTES: Bulldogs Begin Busy Stretch Thursday

Complete Notes (PDF)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The busiest stretch of the season tips off on Thursday when the Truman Women's Basketball team will play five games over the course of 10 days. The first two of the five will be at home when Truman hosts Illinois Springfield at 5:30 p.m. followed by Lewis University at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The stretch continues with a Monday road game at Quincy and regular Thursday/Saturday conference slate on the road to Southern Indiana and McKendree.

Through the first quarter of the conference season, Truman is 5-0 behind a scoring offense that has averaged 83.8 points and shooting 48.3% in league games thus far. The team is also tops in rebounding margin in league games at +14.8 per game and tops in three-pointers made per conference game at 8.8.

The Bulldogs extended their conference winning streak, including last season to six games with an 87-71 win over Missouri S&T and a 78-77 nail biter over Maryville on Saturday. Against the Saints, Maddie Re scored a career-high 17 points with her final two coming on a cross-court inbounds pass from Sloane Totta with 2.8 seconds remaining that gave the Bulldogs the lead. They would have to dodge a similar attempt by Maryville following a timeout to preserve the win.

It was the first one-possession margin of victory in conference by Truman since ironically a 72-70 win over Thursday's opponent Illinois Springfield last January in Pershing Arena. Five of the last six league wins have been by 15 points or more.

All five of the Truman regular starters are averaging near or over 10 points per game overall and each have scored over 100 points thus far. Totta has scored one more point (145-144) than freshman Hannah Belanger to own the leadership in points at 12.1 per game. Katey Klucking is third at 10.5 followed by junior Katie Jaseckas at 10.4 and Re at 9.5.

Re is averaging a double-double in conference games at 13.4 points and 10.2 rebounds a night. She is second in conference rebounding and has the most offensive boards with 17 while shooting a league-high 66.7% from the field. In fact, in conference games, Truman's has four players within the top 10 in league games in shooting percentage. Behind Re is Allison Thomas in 7^th at 57.1%, followed by Jaseckas in ninth at 51.9% and Belanger 10^that 51.2%.

Climbing Up The Charts:
Lone senior Sloane Totta is nearing 100 career games played and started at Truman. She enters the week at 97 games, maximum total since she arrived as a freshman in 2016. Totta has scored 875 points (9.0) for her career and is nine assists shy of 300. She will become only the eighth player at Truman to hit 300 career assists.

Series With Illinois Springfield:
This will be the 13^th meeting between Truman and UIS dating back to the 1997-98 season. The Bulldogs have won 11 of the 12 games including the last four. Outside of the 15-point win by UIS in 2015, last year's 72-70 Truman win was the tightest affair of the bunch. Sloane Totta knocked down two free throws with three seconds left to give Truman the victory. The Prairie Stars overcame a 14-point third quarter Truman lead to take a 67-66 lead with 52 seconds left. After Truman went back up by three, Tehya Fortune buried a triple with 13 seconds showing to level the game again. Fortune finished with a game-high 18 points.

Scouting the UIS:
Illinois Springfield has dropped four of their last five games to sit at 6-7 overall, 1-4 in the GLVC…their lone conference win was a 71-46 victory last Thursday at home against William Jewell…sophomore Lauren Ladowski leads the team in scoring at 15.4 points per night and has 43 assists and 22 steals…senior Tehya Fortune is second at 10.4 points and has a team-high 21 three-pointers made…through five conference games, UIS is third in points allowed per game at 64.2 and tops in defensive field goal percentage at 37.2%...they are last in three-point shooting in conference games with 16 makes at 21.3% from beyond the arc…head coach Casey Thousand is in her first season on the bench at UIS.

Series With Lewis:
Truman exorcised some demons the last time they played Lewis to wrap up the regular season last year in Kirksville. The Bulldogs handed the Flyers their worst margin of defeat last season when they dominated for a 89-67 win on senior day. Six Truman players scored in double-figures and the Bulldogs shot 51% on the afternoon in breaking the six-game losing streak to the Flyers. Lewis leads the all-time series 7-2.

Scouting The Flyers:
Lewis will put their 5-0 league start on the line Thursday at Quincy before visiting Kirksville on Saturday…The Flyers are 8-5 overall but have won six of their last seven games…they pulled out to narrow wins on their last road trip to Louisville and Indianapolis by downing the Knights 78-76 and the Greyhounds 73-70 before winning 85-74 over Rockhurst and 70-63 over William Jewell last weekend at home…Rachel Hinders is the leading scorer for Lewis at 18.6 points per game and 7.2 rebounds…Kaitlyn Williams is the top long range shooter with 25 three-pointers and 10.3 points per night…Morgan Glatczak has played in 12 games and has recorded 38 blocked shots to lead the league…in conference games, the Flyers are tops in free throw shooting at 81.9% and overall shooting at 50.6%.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will return the visit with travel partner Quincy for a Monday holiday special. Truman won their sixth straight over the Lady Hawks back in December when Hannah Belanger knocked down five three-pointers and scored 17 points in a 74-54 win. Tip off from Pepsi Arena is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

#54 Katie Jaseckas: F; 6' 2"; Sophomore

#23 Maddie Re: F; 6' 1"; Redshirt Freshman

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

#33 Katey Klucking: G; 5' 9"; Freshman

#42 Allison Thomas: C; 6' 2"; Freshman

#13 Hannah Belanger: G; 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#54 Katie Jaseckas
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: F

#23 Maddie Re
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Freshman
: F

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

#33 Katey Klucking
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: G

#42 Allison Thomas
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: C

#13 Hannah Belanger
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: G