Women's Basketball 11/11/2021 9:44:00 AM

Truman Women Set To Tip Off 50th Season

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The 50^th season of Truman Women's Basketball tips off this weekend at the GLVC/GLIAC/GMAC Conference Challenger in Pepper Pike, Ohio, hosted by Ursuline College.

The Bulldogs, ranked tied for 23^rd in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association preseason coaches poll, take on former conference mate Wisconsin Parkside in the opener on Friday and host Ursuline on Saturday afternoon.

Truman is 60-21 (.740) in their last three seasons with two NCAA Division II Tournament selections. The Bulldogs were the GLVC Central Division Champions last season in the abbreviated COVID year and were the runners-up in the GLVC Postseason Tournament.

Three starters return from last year's 17-5 season and a fourth starter, Maddie Re, returns after sitting out the COVID year.

Hannah Belanger earned Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-American accolades after posting one of the best individual seasons in Truman history. The junior guard averaged 18.5 points per game, the fourth highest in a Bulldog single-season and knocked down 69 three-pointers. In her first 50 games as a Bulldog, Belanger has averaged 15.2 points per night with 136 three-pointers made. She was also a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.

Katey Klucking, entering her senior season, started all 22 games and averaged 36.3 minutes per night to go with 11.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest. The 36.3 minutes per game was the second highest average by a Truman player in a single-season.

Ellie Weltha, entering her junior year, finished the 2020-21 season in torrid fashion. She closed with nine straight 10+ rebounding games and eight of nine double-doubles and finished the season 10^th on the Truman single-season rebounding list with 252 boards. She also shot a school record 62.7% from the field while averaging 11.1 points and 11.5 rebounds per game while starting all 22.

An all-Freshman team member in 2018-19, Maddie Re returns after a season away and will look to continue her climb up the Bulldog rebounding list. In her last season, Re ranked third in the GLVC in boards at 9.7 per night and was fourth among GLVC players with a 55.6 shooting percentage that resulted in nine points per game.

Brioenne Burns and Allison Thomas are other returning seniors. Burns played in the first seven games last season and averaged 2.7 points and 2.7 rebounds. Thomas appeared in all 22 games with a 4.1 scoring clip and a 66.1% shooting percentage.

Juniors on the roster are Nicole Dorn and Hannah Pinkston. Dorn was in three games last season while Pinkston made starts in both exhibition games and came off the bench in 16 games last season.

The sophomores listed are Gabby Nielsen, Kennedy Wallace, Claire Rake and Carly Printy. Rake was the only one of the group that saw action last season with six games played, all off the bench in limited capacity.

Glance At Newcomers: The three first-year players on the Bulldog roster are guards Gracie Stugart and Emma Bulman and forward Madison Niemeier. Stugart averaged 12.2 points and nearly five rebounds and five assists in her senior season at Francis Howell Central in St. Louis. Bulman averaged 13.5 points and 6.5 rebounds played playing for Gilbert High School in Ames, Iowa. Niemeier averaged nearly a double-double in two seasons as a starter at Liberty North High School in Liberty, Missouri.

Exhibition Season Recap: Truman tested themselves against some Division I competition with two exhibition games in the first week in November. Game one was an 83-58 loss to the University of Northern Iowa out of the Missouri Valley Conference and game two was a 102-32 defeat at the hands of #9 University of Iowa from the Big Ten Conference.

Hannah Belanger led Truman in scoring in the two exhibition games at 13.5 points per game. The Bulldogs led by five after the first quarter against UNI and trailed by only three at the halftime break. The Hawkeyes were in a class above as they scored the game's first 22 points and were never threatened but the Bulldogs.

GLVC Preseason Poll: The Bulldogs were picked to win the GLVC Central Division for the second straight season after picking up the maximum four first-place votes by other coaches in the division. Southern Indiana and Lewis were the split choices by the coaches for the east with USI getting the slight nod 3-2 in first place votes and Drury was the choice in the west with a 4-1 vote. Missouri-St. Louis was the second choice in the central division and will be the opponent when the Bulldogs open up conference play on December 2^nd in Pershing Arena.

WBCA Poll: Truman was in a tie for 23^rd in the first Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division II survey. It is the first time Truman has been ranked in a nationwide preseason poll. The Bulldogs were 24^th in the first poll released last February 2^nd by the WBCA. The team received votes in the six remaining poll releases, including the final poll on March 27^th but not enough to crack the top 25. Truman was tied with Colorado Mines and both received 89 total points.

Since the 2018-19 season, Truman has received votes in the WBCA poll 18 times and cracked the top 25 three times prior to this ranking.

50^th Season Of Women's Basketball: The 2021-22 season marks the 50^th season of the Bulldogs being recognized as an intercollegiate sport at Truman State. The first campaign occurred in the 1972-73 academic year with Kathy Austin at the helm. The team would go 9-6 in that inaugural season.
The program was active on campus prior to the 72-73 season and won three titles at the Missouri State Sports Day Championships as a club. The squad was known as the "Bulldogettes" those first few years.

Up Next: Truman will travel to Marshall, Minnesota for the Southwest Minnesota State Classic. The Bulldogs will face Minot (Minn.) State and host Mustangs on November 19 and 20^th.

Series History w/UW Parkside: The Bulldogs have won all six meetings with the Rangers with five coming when they were both members of the GLVC. Truman won all three matchups in Kirksville and both games in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The two teams last met in the conference challenge in 2019 in Quincy with Truman winning 82-71. Katey Klucking scored 22 points behind five three-pointers and Hannah Belanger scored 11 in her Truman debut. UW-Parkside returners who started were Claire Jakaitis with 11 points and Alyssa Nelson with 10.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside was picked to finish in a tie for second in the GLIAC North Division after earning 44 points. Michigan Tech was the preseason North favorite and Ferris State also had 44 points and three first-place votes. They finished the season 11-10 overall and 9-9 in the GLIAC averaging 74.8 points and shooting 44.7% from the field. Alyssa Nelson was named a first-team all-GLIAC for the second straight season after averaging 19.4 points and was third in field goal shooting at 52.9%. Nelson was also named to the All-GLIAC Defensive team.

Series History w/Ursuline: Just one prior game between the Bulldogs and Arrows and it occurred back in the 2019 season with Truman winning 87-75. Katey Klucking scored 21 points and eventually earned the first GLVC Women's Basketball Player of the Week award following her tournament. The scored was tied at 27 after the first quarter but Truman was able to pull away and take a five-point lead into the locker room. Rebekah Green is the Arrows returning starter from the 2019 game where she scored 14 points.

About the Arrows: Ursuline went 9-12 last winter with a 76.6 scoring average but allowed 81.5 points per game. As a team, they shot 43% from the field and made eight three-pointers per game with a 32.5% three-point shooting percentage. Morgan Mattimore led the Arrows in scoring at 14.5 points per game and Alyssa Evans was the team's top three-point shooter with 49 on 36% shooting. Mattimore had the team-high in single-game points with 34 against Trevecca Nazarene. Ursuline was picked in a tie for ninth in the 12-team GMAC preseason coaches poll. Walsh and Ashland were the top two choices by league coaches.

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