Game Notes (PDF) 

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. –  The two longest winning streaks in the GLVC will collide on Thursday night when the Truman Bulldogs pay visit to the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons in a rematch of an earlier season contest. The Bulldogs have not lost since the 57-54 defeat at the hands of the Tritons back on December 2^nd in Pershing Arena. They have reeled off eight-in-a-row to match the school record for consecutive wins. 
 
UMSL has won 10 straight since a season-opening road loss at Grand Valley (Mich.) State on November 12, 61-54. They are returning home after two road wins, a 65-51 triumph at Illinois Springfield and a 51-41 win at Indianapolis last weekend.
 
The Bulldogs momentum is flying high after they slayed the dragon, or in this case the Panthers on Monday night. Ellie Weltha's two free throws with 1.4 seconds left gave Truman their only lead of the game but it was enough to down #1 Drury 67-66 for the school's first win over their rival from Springfield. Weltha and Allison Thomas each scored 19 points with Weltha pulling down 18 rebounds and Thomas 10 in the victory. 
 
Truman trailed by 16 in the first half and kept chipping away at the Drury lead. They held the Panthers to only eight points in the deciding fourth quarter, had a 13-point advantage at the free throw line and won the glass 42-20 with 15 offensive rebounds leading to a 20-5 advantage in second chance scoring.
 
In the earlier encounter with UMSL, the Tritons outscored Truman 18-7 in the second quarter and were able to hold off the Bulldogs the majority of the game in winning 57-54. Hannah Belanger scored 21 points for Truman on five made three-pointers while Kiara Stewart (21) and Alex LaPorta (20) scored 41 of the Triton's 57 points that evening. The win broke a five-game winning streak Truman had over UMSL.
 
Following Thursday's game, Truman will play at Lindenwood on Saturday afternoon. The two team's earlier scheduled game was postponed due to COVID protocols within the Lions program. Lindenwoo is 7-6 overall and 4-2 in the GLVC. They had a five-game winning streak stopped at Lewis on Saturday 73-68 and will host William Jewell on Thursday night before Truman's visit on Saturday.
 
GLVC Updates Game Postponement Policy:
The conference office announced on Wednesday that they have changed the previous "no-contest" declaration for games missed due to COVID protocols. The Council of President's voted 9-0 to permit games postponed due to COVID to be made up and the results count toward league standings. If make-ups are unable to be played those games will still be considered "no-contest". 
 
In addition, the postseason tournament has been expanded to include all 15 schools and the seeding will be based again on the Point Rating System that awards selected number of points depending on your opponent's records and location of the game. The first PSR will be announced on February 5. 
 
Belanger Hits 1,000 Career Points:
Hannah Belanger became the 23^rd player and only eighth to hit 1,000 career points in their third season. She sits at 1,041 with a career scoring average at 15.9 points per game. She currently ranks third in Truman scoring history in points per game behind Carol Jarrard (17.9) and Georgia Mueller (17.2). The other players to score over 1,000 in three seasons: Carol Jarrad (1,433), Georgia Mueller (1,457), Angie Sutton (1,094), Amy Eagan (1,057), Wendi Sobaski (1,051), Kelli Kreuser (1,177) and Sarah Sommer (1,058). 
 
About the Bulldogs:
After using the same starting lineup for the first eight games, the Bulldogs have had to adjust and have used three different lineups in their last five games. Hannah Belanger, Katey Klucking and Ellie Weltha have not missed a start this season while Allison Thomas as started the last eight. Maddie Re started the first nine games, missed four straight and returned last week. Hannah Pinkston started the first eight and 10 overall and Claire Rake has got the start in two.
 
Klucking is the active leader in games played with 92, having made 65 starts in that span. Klucking leads the GLVC in assist/turnover ratio at 1.88 per game and is 10^th in minutes played per night at 31.19 and 24^th in scoring at 11.6 per contest.
 
Weltha matched her career-best with 18 rebounds on Monday night. She is second in the league behind Lindenwood's Julia Ruzevich for the rebounding lead at 10.3 per game. Weltha is third in field goal shooting at 56.8% and is the leader in defensive rebounds at 7.94 per game.
 
Thomas missed the seven November games but has averaged seven points and over five rebounds in the last six outings. She has played in 79 career games with 14 starts and is the active leader in blocked shots with 32. She recorded her second double-double of the year and set a new single-game points mark with 19 against Drury on Monday.
 
Re is the conference leader in field goal shooting at 64% this season and is averaging 10.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. For her career, of 71 games, and 46 starts, she is sitting at 8.1 rebound and points per game.
 
Pinkston has started 10 of 11 games she has been available for this season and averages 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds. Her game-high is eight points in two contest this season. She has played in 53 career games with all 10 starts coming this year. 
 
Rake has made the most of her amped up playing time in the last three games she has been available for. Rake has knocked down 11 of her last 24 three-point attempts (45.8%), including six against McKendree to set a new career-high in points with 21. 
 
Emma Bulman has appeared off the bench in all 15 games this season. She averages around 12 minutes per contest and has a high game total of nine points against Upper Iowa this season. 
 
Brioenne Burns has come off the bench in 14 games this season with 16.2 minutes per outing. Her game high was eight points against Ursuline back in early November and again in her last outing against Quincy. She has 13 assists to go with eight steals.  
 
Gracie Stugart saw action in the first 10 games and was on the floor for nearly 15 minutes per night. Stugart has 25 assists and 12 steals with a season-high nine points against Missouri S&T. 
 
Madison Niemeier has also saw action in 13 contest this year with a 9.1 minutes of action per game. She played a season-high 19 minutes at McKendree and in her last four games is shooting 78% from the field (11-14). She scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting at Quincy on January 4^th.
 
Up Next: Truman will return home to Pershing for homes games on Thursday and Saturday against Southern Indiana, leaders of the GLVC East Division, and a rematch with McKendree.  
  
Series History w/Missouri-St. Louis: The Bulldogs hold a 24-20 advantage over Missouri-St. Louis and have won seven of the last 10 matchups. In St. Louis, UMSL holds a 12-9 advantage in games played. Truman's last trip to the Mark Twain Center was a 71-65 victory in 2020, five of the last six games have been played in Kirksville. 
 
About the Tritons: UMSL is the conference leader in defense at allowing opponents just 50.4 points per game. The next closest school is Southwest Baptist at 60.0 points allowed. UMSL limits their opposition to 36% shooting per game and only 26% from distance. Kiara Stewart is second in field goal shooting at 62% and is fifth in rebounding (7.5/g) and 10^th in scoring (14.0/g). Alex LaPorta is fifth in assists and steals per game while third in assist/turnover ratio. Mallory Ronshausen is tied for the conference lead in three-pointers made per game at 2.64.  
 
Series History w/Lindenwood: The Lions have taken the last four over the Bulldogs but the two haven't met since December of 2020. The last two times they have tried to play, the games have been postponed due to COVID. In that last meeting, Devin Fuhring scored 33 points for the Lions while Hannah Belanger and Ellie Weltha each scored 16 for Truman. The Bulldogs last wins in the series came when they were both members of the MIAA. Truman swept the one year they were both in that league 86-65 in St. Charles and 75-50 in Kirksville during the 2012-13 season.
 
About the Lions: After starting the season 0-4, Lindenwood has won seven of their last nine games.  They are fourth in scoring offense at 72.9 points per game but 14^th in scoring defense at 70.8 points. They are just in front of Truman in rebounding margin at +10.7 per game while the Bulldogs are at +10.4. The league's leading scorer and rebounder, Julia Ruzevich is averaging 20.0 points per night and 11.5 rebounds per game. Gracie Neff is leading in assists at 5.42 per game and Ruzevich is second in blocked shots at 1.46 per night.