KIRKSVILLE, Mo. –  The Truman Women's Basketball team is scheduled to play consecutive home games for the first time since early December when they welcome GLVC Eastern Division members Southern Indiana and McKendree to Pershing Arena on Thursday and Saturday.
 
The Bulldogs enter riding a program-best 10-game winning streak that started back on December 4^th against Maryville University. Nine of the ten victories have come in conference play, and six have come in road tilts, including the last two. Truman is one of 11 Division II schools with active winning streaks of 10-games or more with Glenville State and Wingate boasting 16-game streaks. Three of the 11 schools in the Midwest region have won 10 or more straight games including 12 by Ashland of the GMAC and 10 by Grand Valley State of the GLIAC. 
 
Southern Indiana were ranked 25^th in the WBCA Division II poll last week but saw their four-game winning streak stopped at home to Lewis University 72-63 last Saturday. The Screaming Eagles are 12-3 overall and 6-1 in conference play and are the only school in the East Division with a record over .500. USI was 11-5 last season before having the final six games cancelled, including a spot in the conference tournament. 
 
After Thursday's game, Truman will face McKendree for the second time this season. The Bulldogs got career-highs from Katey Klucking and Claire Rake in a  79-55 victory back on January 8^th in Lebanon, Ill. The Bearcats are 2-13 overall and 1-7 in conference play having lost their last three games. McKendree will be at William Jewell on Thursday prior to visiting Kirksville. 
 
Midwest Regional Rankings:
The Division II Sports Information Directors of America released their Midwest regional rankings on Monday and Truman is in a tie for seventh with Missouri-St. Louis. Ashland leads the regional poll followed by Drury and Grand Valley State and Southern Indiana in fourth. Walsh and Ferris State have slots five and six and following the Bulldogs is Saginaw Valley State and Michigan Tech. It is the Bulldogs first appearance in the D2SIDA regional poll. 
 
Belanger Named GLVC Player Of Week:
Junior guard Hannah Belanger was selected at this week's GLVC Player of the Week after averaging 19 points, three rebounds and four assist in three big wins last week. She scored 11 points and added seven assists as the Bulldogs downed #1 Drury 67-66 last Monday. She scored 23 to snap Missouri-St. Louis' 10-game winning streak on Thursday and poured in 25 in a 57-47 win at Lindenwood on Saturday. 
 
The 2021 All-American is currently second in the GLVC in scoring at 18 points per game and second in assists at 4.44.
 
Belanger joins Ellie Weltha this season in garnering GLVC Player of the Week honors. Weltha earned the award following wins against Minot State and Southwest Minnesota State in November.
 
Bulldogs 10-Game Streak (A Closer Look):
The previous streak for the Truman program was eight games back in the 2014 season. 
Four players have started all 10 games during the streak, Hannah Belanger, Katey Klucking, Ellie Weltha and Allison Thomas. Maddie Re has started the six she has been available for  and two starts each from Claire Rake and Hannah Pinkston.
The Bulldogs have shot 44% overall from the field and 33.5% (6.6 three-pointers per game). 
They have dominated the rebounding by over 10 per game against their opponents (40.3/29.2).
Truman has averaged 73.7 points and allowed 58.8 points per game. In the first quarter, Truman is +41 points over their opponents and in the third quarter the margin increases to +69 (208-139). 
 
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 1,089 with a career scoring average at 16.0 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). 
 
Re Closing In On Top 10 Boards:
Maddie Re is 14 rebounds away from cracking the Truman career rebounding chart. Re enters the week with 587 rebounds and will tie Jennifer Fisher (1999-03) when she reaches 601 rebounds. Felicia Sutton (1987-91) and Carol Jarrard (1978-82) are the only two players with over 1,000 rebounds (1232 – Sutton; 1084 – Jarrard). Ninth on the list is Shelley Picha (1988-92) with 642. 
 
Weltha Racking Up Double/Doubles:
Ellie Weltha has nine double-doubles this season which is tops among GLVC players. She is in the top 20 nationally in double-doubles.
Weltha is seventh in scoring at 15.1 points and second in rebounds at 10.2 in the GLVC.
 
Klucking Closing In On 100 Career Games:
Senior Katey Klucking is the active leader in games played with 94 entering the week. She has averaged 11.2 points this season, up from her career number of 8.2 points. She has 208 career assists and is at 769 career points while knocking down 130 three-pointers. 
 
Dean Hits 50-Win Milestone:
In only his third season on the bench, Head Coach Theo Dean has rocketed up the career coaching charts at Truman and last Saturday's win at Lindenwood was his 50^th in his 68^th career game. Dean's .735 winning percentage is tops among all former Truman coaches, including previous boss Amy Eagan's .642 winning percentage. 
 
Dean's teams have a 39-8 GLVC record with a 19-5 conference home slate and a 21-3 conference road record in the past three seasons. The Bulldogs are currently on a school-best six-game road winning streak, in addition to their stated 10-game overall consecutive winning streak.
 
Up Next: The Bulldogs will embark to the east side of the conference for two road games next week. Truman will look for the season sweep over Lewis University next Thursday and face the University of Indianapolis for the only time this season next Saturday. The Bulldogs downed Lewis 83-75 in Kirksville on January 6^th.  
 
 
Series History w/Southern Indiana: The series with USI is currently tied at six wins each and the team's have also split the last 10 evenly at 5-5. Each school won on the other's home court last season with USI winning in Kirkville 83-78 and Truman taking the rematch in Screaming Eagles Arena 73-67. Truman has won three of the last four, including the largest margin of victory in the series, an 89-59 win in 2020. Four of the last five games have been played in Evansville. 
 
About the Screaming Eagles: Southern Indiana boasts the second ranked scoring offense in the GLVC at 81 points per night and third best in scoring margin at +11.9 per contest. They are number two in assists and number two in steals per game and are the second best free throw shooting team in the league at 77.8%. Junior Addy Blackwell leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage with 24 makes out of 52 attempts (46.2%). Seven different players have led USI in game-high scoring this season. Meredith Raley leads the team in scoring at 12.1 points followed by Emma DeHart at 11.6. 
 
Series History w/McKendree: Truman has owned the all-time series with the Bearcats 17-1 and have won all nine since the two became members of the GLVC. This will be only the third time McKendree will be the visitors when the two schools play on Saturday as five of the last six meetings have been in Illinois. McKendree's lone win in the series came in 1988, a 71-64 non-conference win. 
 
About the Bearcats: McKendree enters the week having lost their last three and 13 of the previous 15 games. Their lone conference win came at home against Indianapolis 63-58 on January 13. The Bearcats are in the bottom of the league in scoring offense (51.8/g) and defense (71.6/g). They are last in three-pointers made with 65 (4.33/g). Christy Fortune leads the team in scoring at 12.2 points per night and Clare Breden is second at 10.6. Fortune has the McKendree lead in three-pointers made with 33. The Bearcats will be at William Jewell on Thursday prior to their contest with Truman on Saturday.