KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Bulldogs get thrown right in the conference mix with a pair of GLVC home games this week. Truman will host central division rivals Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville University in the first of two against the division foes this season.
 
The Bulldogs posted their largest win of the season on Sunday in a 77-51 defeat of Upper Iowa University. A 20-4 second quarter put the game away rather early and nine of the 12 that played got in the scoring column. Hannah Belanger led Truman with 24 points and had four three-pointers to jump past Susan Theroff on the all-time career three-point list with 150 and eight position. Belanger is dishing out five assists per game and had six on Sunday in the win over the Peacocks. 
 
Last year, Truman went 14-3 in the conference and 4-1 in central division games. They swept UMSL and Maryville but lost their only game to Lindenwood. The second game with the Lions and both games with the Quincy Lady Hawks were cancelled due to COVID reasons. 
 
The team has posted a winning in conference play for 10 straight seasons and won a record 16 in conference in the 2019-20 campaign. In GLVC home games under Coach Theo Dean, Truman is 16-4. 
 
This season as a team, Truman averages 71.7 points per game while shooting 47% overall from the field but 28.0% from three on 5.8 three-pointers per game. The Bulldogs are shooting 73% from the foul line with 14.4 assists per game and a rebounding margin of 8.9 per night. Truman is a minus two in turnovers to their opponents at 15 per game compared to 12.4. Opponents have scored on average 70 points while shooting 45% overall, 37% from three and 83% from the free throw line. Last year, Truman made 37% of their three-point shots and averaged over eight triples per game.
 
About the Players:
Hannah Belanger, Ellie Weltha, Katey Klucking, Maddie Re and Hannah Pinkston made the seven starts this season. The bulk of the scoring has come from four of the five starters led by Weltha's 19.0, Belanger's 18.0, Re's 11.9 and Klucking's 10.0. Those four have taken 78% of the shots this season and have scored 82% of the points. Truman averages 37 points per game in the paint with a single-game high of 48 against Minot (N.D.) State.
 
Belanger, a WBCA All-American last season, is nearing 900 career points (891) in 57 games played as a Bulldog. For her career, Belanger has averaged 15.6 points per game with 43 games in double-figures and 15 with 20 or more points. Her career high is 34 points that she scored against Indianapolis last November 29. Belanger has made 150 three-pointers, good for eighth on the Truman career list. She can vault up to fourth this season with only five more triples. (Rachel Edmundson – 151, Angie Gum – 152, Courtney Strait – 154). Third on the list is 230 by Candace McGee. 
 
Weltha is a two-sport star at Truman having led the Truman Softball team with six home runs last spring following an all-conference season on the basketball court. In her 47 career games, Weltha is shooting 61.0% from the field while averaging 8.5 points and 7.6 rebounds. She has 13 career double-doubles. 
 
Katey Klucking is the active leader in games played with 83. She went over the 600-point threshold for her career last weekend and sits at 637 on 7.7 points per game average. Klucking has 114 made three-pointers in her career.
 
Maddie Re has over 500 career points (534) and 500 career rebounds (537). Re is tied for 14^th on the career rebounding charts with Ashley Hartwig and would need 64 more this season to tie Jennifer Fisher for 10^th on the list. Re has scored in double-figures in six straight games and has 13 career double-doubles. 
 
Hannah Pinkston has been the fifth starter this season and is logging 19 minutes per game. Pinkston has the best assist/turnover ratio on the team at 14 assists to just five turnovers. 
 
Brioenne Burns has appeared in all seven games this season off the bench and four of her six shots made have been from beyond the arc. Burns played 41 games at the NCAA Division I level while a member of the Stephen F. Austin team before transferring to Truman.
 
Three freshmen have taken the court this season in Gracie Stugart, Emma Bulman and Madison Niemeier all seeing action off the bench. Stugart logged over 18 minutes in each game and grabbed 13 rebounds, nine assists and five steals.  Bulman averaged 12.1 minutes, scored 22 points and 14 rebounds and Niemeier has made all four free throw attempts.
 
Claire Rake, Nicole Dorn, Kennedy Wallace and Gabby Nielsen have also seen limited playing time this season. Rake has been in four games with a pair of three-pointers. Dorn and Wallace have been in two contests each and Nielsen made her Bulldog debut against Upper Iowa.
  
Up Next: December is a light month for Truman hoops with only three games on the slate for the month. After this weekend's conference games, Truman is idle until December 19 when they host Hannibal-LaGrange for a 4 p.m. non-conference affair. Conference season kicks back up on Sunday January 2 with Lindenwood University in Pershing Arena. 
 
 Series History w/Missouri-St. Louis: Truman can match their longest winning streak against the Tritons with a win on Thursday. The Bulldogs have taken the past five games against UMSL including last year's 71-65 win in St. Louis and 75-63 win in Kirksville. The last Triton win was January 21^st in St. Louis 67-58 and last win in Kirksville was December 19, 2016, 80-70. Ellie Weltha has a career-high 26 points in the last meeting while UMSL's Alex LaPorta had 19.
 
About the Tritons: UMSL has won four straight after a season-opening loss to Grand Valley State 61-54. They downed Quincy University on Monday night 61-47 behind 18 points from Mallory Ronshausen. Alex LaPorta leads the team in scoring at 13.6 per game while freshman Ronshausen is second at 11.2 on 13 made three-pointers. The Tritons average 62 points offensively but hold opponents to 52 points per game. UMSL was 12-8 last season and 5-4 away from the Mark Twain Center.    
 
Series History w/Maryville: Truman is currently on a six-game winning streak over the Saints but during that span, two games needed overtime and two others were decided by three points or less. That includes last year's 76-73 Truman win in the opening round of the GLVC postseason tournament. The Bulldogs took the two regular season games by scores of 67-62 in Maryville and 83-72 in Kirksville. The all-time series has Truman in front 13-5. 
 
About the Saints: Maryville is currently 3-3 but will play a second conference game at home against McKendree on Thursday before travelling for Saturday's game in Kirksville. The Bulldogs and Maryville saw each other play at the Southwest Minnesota State tournament with the Saints winning by four over Minot State and dropping a 14-point game to host Mustangs. Antoinette Mussorici is the leading scorer at 17.5 points per game and Hunter Stidham is the top three-point shooter with 11 made. Mussorici has been to the free throw line 39 times in six games. Maryville was 11-11 last season and 5-7 away from campus.