Women's Basketball 2/23/2021 1:09:00 PM

Women's Basketball Returns For Final Regular Season Weekend

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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman women's basketball team returns to the court after missing the past four games due to COVID protocols. The Bulldogs end the 2021 regular season with a chance for the GLVC top seed in the upcoming conference tournament and a conference Central Division title.

Truman (12-3) is currently atop the points-rating system as the Bulldogs enter the final week of play. The Bulldogs have a 4.63 rating while Drury has a 4.57 rating. The Lady Panthers have two road games to sweeten their rating with wins while the Bulldogs will have to defend their home court against two teams below .500 in Rockhurst and Southwest Baptist.

By winning percentage, Truman will claim the Central Division title with their .800 league mark. Missouri-St. Louis is second at 11-7 (.611) and Maryville is third at 10-9 (.526).

In terms of the NCAA Division II Tournament, the Bulldogs were one of eight teams under consideration for the 48-team tournament starting later in March. Teams will not be ranked in the first two releases by the selection committee but will be next week prior to the tournament field is announced. Eight teams from the Midwest region will be selected to the tournament, two will get automatic bids for winning either the GLVC or GLIAC league tournaments and six will be selected from at-large.

The Bulldogs have won eight of their last nine with the only loss coming in overtime to Indianapolis on February 4 78-74. The team bounced back big time on February 6 with a fourth quarter surge to down Lewis 83-74. Ellie Weltha scored the first six points of the fourth quarter and Truman closed the game on a 13-0 run after trailing by seven points near the end of the third.

Hannah Belanger continues to rack up the points. Belanger scored a team-high 22 points in the win over Lewis on Saturday and increased her season average to 19.5 on the season, good for second in the conference behind Drury's Paige Robinson. Belanger has 46 three-pointers and is shooting 41% beyond the arc.

Katie Jaseckas is actually second in three-point shooting in the league at 41.7% on 25 triples. Jaseckas entered the school's top 10 all-time in scoring and eclipsed 700 career rebounds on Saturday with 11 points and five rebounds. Jaseckas averages 15.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and is seventh in field goal percentage at 54.3%.

The league-leader in shooting is Weltha at 62.5%. She is also third in boards per game at 9.9 coming off a career-best 16 on Saturday. Weltha finished the game going 7-of-9 from the field while added two assists, two blocks and two steals.

Katey Klucking has been in double-figures eight times this year and is third in scoring at 12.2 points per game. Klucking has topped 20 points in two games and is second in three-pointers made with 32. She is averaging over 35 minutes per game.

Tiffany Davenport dished out 17 assists in the two wins last week to raise her league-leading assist average up to 6.5 per game. Davenport scored in double-figures in both wins with 13 against Indianapolis, playing all 45 minutes and 10 against Lewis in nearly 37 minutes.

Davenport, Klucking and Belanger are in the top eight in the GLVC in minutes per game with all three above 35 minutes. Belanger is sixth at 36, Klucking seventh at 35.6 and Davenport eighth at 35.2. Illinois Springfield has the top three spots in minutes played led by Lauren Ladowski 38.2 minutes/game.

The Bulldogs are the number two team in the league in scoring offense at 74 points per night, second in field goal shooting at 48.8%, first in three-point shooting at 39.2%, assists per game 17.6, defensive rebounds 29.7/g and three-pointers 8.8/g.

Scouting Report: Rockhurst
The Hawks were 6-5 when the pulled off the biggest upset of the season, winning at Drury 75-69…that victory ended all sorts of Lady Panther winning streaks but Rockhurst dropped their next five straight after the upset win…the Hawks broke their losing streak with a 71-55 win over Quincy last Saturday…Daly Sullivan has been the leader in scoring at 14.6 points per night while Keegan Sullivan has the single-game high with 28 in an overtime loss to Southern Indiana.

Last Game w/Rockhurst: The Bulldogs swept last year's season series with the Hawks taking a 91-70 victory in Kansas City on January 4, 2020 and an 85-75 win on January 30, 2020. Truman trailed just briefly in the first half in the 10-point home win but had to fend off the Hawks throughout the night. Truman never got to a double-digit lead until four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Katie Jaseckas led Truman in scoring with 22 points with Maddie Re adding 19. Truman made only six three-pointers in the contest but Jaseckas was 10-of-13 from the field. Madeline Ronshausen led Rockhurst with 22 points.

Series History: Truman is working on a four-game winning streak over the Hawks with the largest such string being six games, four of which came before Truman joined the GLVC. All-time has Truman up 18-7 and 9-2 in games played in Kirksville. The last Rockhurst win was February 3, 2018 in Kansas City 54-48 and their last win in Kirksville was December 3, 2015, 56-55.

Scouting Report: Southwest Baptist
The Bearcats entered the week on a five-game losing streak and have dropped six of their last nine games…two of their four wins have come in overtime, 92-86 over Missouri S&T and 100-97 at Maryville…three SBU players average double-digits in scoring led by Kyleigh Vaught at 14.6, Sydney Bandy at 11.8 and Regan Tibbits at 11.4…the Bearcats have struggled on the defensive end, as they are 14^th in the league in scoring defense at 76.2 points allowed per game and last in both overall and three-point shooting defense as opponents hit 48.3% overall and 38.3% from three in games…in their two years of GLVC play, the Bearcats are 4-15 in conference road games.

Last Game w/Southwest Baptist: In their only match-up last season, the Bulldogs used a 25-8 second quarter to take a 45-28 halftime lead. The lead swelled to 26 points early in the fourth quarter the Bulldogs celebrated "Senior Day" with an 80-66 win over the Bearcats. Hannah Belanger rang the three-point bell six times on the afternoon to score 24 points to lead all scorers. Katey Klucking added 14 and Tiffany Davenport poured in 11. Truman was 13-of-26 from three on the afternoon. SBU had four players in double-figures with Kyleigh Vaught's 17 points leading the way.

Series History: The two teams resumed their series last year with SBU joining the Bulldogs in the GLVC. Prior to that meeting, the teams had played 50 previous games under the MIAA banner with the Bearcats holding a 31-19 series advantage. Truman is currently on their longest winning streak in the series at eight games with the last SBU win coming in Bolivar, Missouri on February 6, 2010, 67-51. The Bearcats' last win in Kirksville was in 2009.

Up Next:
The GLVC Tournament quarterfinals will take place on Wednesday on campus sites. The Bulldogs will be at home for a 5:15 p.m. start against an opponent that will be announced on Saturday night following the completion of the regular season.
After Wednesday's quarterfinals, the surviving four teams will head to the campus site of the highest remaining seed for the semifinals on Saturday and championship game on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

#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

#32 Ellie Weltha: F; 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman

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

Players Mentioned

#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

#32 Ellie Weltha
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman
: F

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