Bulldogs Embark On Eastern Swing For Weekend Conference Play

Complete Notes (PDF)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – With five of their last six on the road, the Truman Women's Basketball team will begin their push for the postseason when they start the stretch with the two eastern time zone teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

When looking at wins and losses, the Bulldogs are second in the GLVC with a 12-2 conference mark and a 16-5 overall ledger. However in the points rating system used for seeding and qualification in the conference tournament, the Bulldogs are fourth with a 3.68 rating behind Drury (4.79), Lewis (4.00) and Southern Indiana (3.68).

Bellarmine will be the first stop on the tour and it will be the final time the Truman women will visit Knights Hall as a member of the GLVC. Bellarmine will be making the jump to Division I next season. The Knights are seventh in the current GLVC PSR with a 3.07 rating and record-wise 12-9 overall and 7-7 in league play.

The University of Indianapolis will be next on Saturday and the Greyhounds are nipping at the Bulldogs' heels with a 3.61 PSR and a 16-6/9-5 conference mark. UINDY will host Quincy on Thursday before Truman arrives on Saturday.

The Bulldogs are riding a five-game conference road winning streak into Louisville on Thursday. Truman has won six of their last seven and 11 of their last 13 games and will be looking to match last year's conference win total of 13 victories on the trip.

The team split a pair of grinders at home last weekend. They lost 72-65 to Lindenwood on Thursday before bouncing back with a 63-58 victory over Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday.

Senior Sloane Totta hit a pair of milestones last week in the games. Totta became the 21^st Bulldog player to achieve 1,000 career points and vaulted into a tie for fourth in career assists with 336. Her next dime will tie her for third all-time with Jeanette Cleven (1983-87) and she will set her sights on second place and Becca McHenry's total of 369. She has taken over the team lead in scoring at 14.2 points per game, which is 13th, overall on the GLVC scoring list and eighth at 15.5 in conference games. Totta is also third in the league in assists per game at 5.1 overall and 4.7 in league.

Junior Katie Jaseckas will be next in making her push for 1,000 career points. Jaseckas has had six-straight double-digit games, including three 20+ nights to cross over 800 career points (830). She scored 22 going 9-of-13 and 4-of-5 from three in the Bulldog win over UMSL on Saturday. For her season, Jaseckas is scoring at a 13.1 ppg clip and 13.9 in conference. Her 39 season blocks is tied for fifth most in a year, two back of fourth place Jennifer Perkins 2002 total, and her 86 career blocks puts her fifth all-time.
The rest of the starting lineup for 20 of the 21 games has including freshman Hannah Belanger, sophomore Katey Klucking and redshirt sophomore Maddie Re. Belanger has the team lead in three-pointers made with 48 this season and is second overall and fourth in conference in three-point shooting percentage (.449/.453). She is the only freshman in the GLVC in the top 20 in scoring at 12.2 points per game.

Klucking is fourth in conference assist/turnover ratio and seventh in assists (3.36) while scoring 9.6 points per game. She has had 37 of her 87 rebounds in the last six games with two 10-rebound games.

Re is the team's rebounding leader at 9.8 per game and 10 rebounds per league contest. Both have her ranked third in the conference statistics. She is also in the top 10 in field goal percentage at 56% overall (4^th) and 55% conference (7^th). She has had 11 games this season with 10 or more rebounds and three games with 16 rebounds.

Those five have accounted for 76% of the team's scoring this season and have led the Bulldogs to the third highest scoring offense in the GLVC at 76 overall and 78.1 in conference. The team is also second in the league in shooting percentage at 46%.

Tiffany Davenport is the only bench player to appear in all 21 games and is the next highest in minutes per game at 20. Davenport is tied with Jaseckas with 18 three-pointers made and has 41 assists and 14 steals.

History With Bellarmine:
Truman has won the last two against the Knights and three of the six games played under the GLVC banner. Last year in Louisville, Truman held Bellarmine to 49 points in a 65-49 victory. Maddie Re had a double-double (11/10), Sloane Totta added 12 and Rachel Edmundson posted a team-high 13 points in the win. No Knight player scored in double-digits with Liza Tibbs leading BU with nine points. Bellarmine shot 24% for the game and lead the turnover margin by a +11 (20/9). Bellarmine's last win in the series came in 2017 when they won in Kirksville 89-77.

About the Knights:
Bellarmine fought their way into the GLVC postseason tournament championship game last year before Drury took the wind out of their sails with a 94-48 final game score…they were picked to finish third in the conference this season after going 17-12 overall and 9-9 in the league….they are returning home from a four-game road trip in which then went 2-2 with wins over Illinois Springfield (77-67) and Rockhurst (77-66) and losses to Lewis (77-71) and William Jewell (63-47)…the team leads overall in three-point defense at 28% and are second behind Drury in steals per game at 9.71…junior Breia Torrens leads the Knights in scoring at 14.1 points per night and is eighth in steals per game at 2.14…Tasia Jeffries scored 24 points in their last game against Rockhurst…Torrens and Jeffries lead the team in three-pointers made with 47 and 38 respectively…the team averages 69.8 points for and 64.7 points against this season.

History With Indianapolis:
The two teams have split their last four matchups including the two games last season. The Bulldogs won 73-51 in Indianapolis back on January 5^th last year before losing in overtime at home 75-70 on February 28. In the first game, Sloane Totta went 8-for-8 from the field and led the Bulldogs with 20 points in only 18 minutes of action while in the second game, a 17-7 fourth quarter tied the contest at 62 before UINDY prevailed in overtime. Truman led by as many as 15. Emma Benoit had 24 points and 15 rebounds. Overall, the Greyhounds hold an 8-6 advantage over Truman.

About the Greyhounds:
UINDY had their four-game winning streak stopped on Saturday against William Jewell 72-56…the Greyhounds are 16-6 overall and 9-5 in the GLVC before entertaining Quincy on Thursday night…they have the second best scoring defense in the GLVC at 62.2 points allowed per game and hold opponents to 36.4% shooting…they are also second in blocked shots…senior Laura Thomas is seventh in the conference in scoring at 15.5 points per game and has the team's single-game high of 28 points against Southwest Baptist…UINDY was picked 11^th in the preseason coaches poll after going 11-17 last season and 5-13 in the GLVC.

Up Next:
A showdown with #1 ranked and undefeated Drury University is on the horizon for the Bulldogs next Thursday followed by their final home game of the 2020 season next Saturday when Southwest Baptist returns to Pershing Arena for the first time since 2013.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#31 Rachel Edmundson: F; 6' 0"; Senior

#24 Tiffany Davenport: G; 5' 6"; Junior

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

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

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

#4 Sloane Totta: G; 5' 9"; Senior

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

Players Mentioned

#31 Rachel Edmundson
: 6' 0"; Senior
: F

#24 Tiffany Davenport
: 5' 6"; Junior
: G

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

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

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

#4 Sloane Totta
: 5' 9"; Senior
: G

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