CHESTERFIELD, Mo. - After a string of close games with the Maryville Saints, the Truman Bulldogs cruised to one of their largest wins in the series with a 79-57 victory on Saturday afternoon. It was their seventh straight win and sets up their showdown with #1 Drury on Monday evening in Kirksville.

For the second straight game, the Bulldogs (10-5; 6-1 GLVC) dominated the first quarter and led 24-9 after the first 10 minutes of play. The lead expanded out to 25 points at 34-9 on Ellie Weltha's basket at the 6:59 mark of the second quarter.

The Bulldogs hit a wall and Maryville (6-5; 2-3 GLVC) found their shooting touch to end the half and scored 12 straight points and 21 of the last 24 points to trail by only nine at the break at 37-28.

Truman plugged the dam and righted the shift early in the third by starting out on a 15-4 run and then was never really threatened. 

Katey Klucking led the Bulldogs in scoring for the third straight game with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 5-of-7 from range. Hannah Belanger scored 16 and Weltha added 15. Allison Thomas had four of the Bulldogs five blocked shots on the day. 

Taylor Kirby led the Saints with 16 points.

Truman wins their eighth straight over the Saints and improve to 8-2 in their last 10 against Maryville. The largest margin of victory was 25 points back in 2009.

The Bulldogs will welcome top-ranked Drury Lady Panthers on Monday at 5:15 p.m. Drury trailed by 19 early against Rockhurst on Saturday but battled back to down the Hawks 76-69. It will be a rematch of last year's GLVC postseason tournament championship game and an NCAA Midwest regional semifinal.