KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - A pair of games at the Drury Thanksgiving Classic, featuring one against a nationally-ranked program and the opening of conference play is on tap for the Truman State Women's Basketball team this week.

The Bulldogs will face #5 Ashland (Ohio) to open up the two-game swing in Springfield, Missouri on Tuesday afternoon. It will be the first ever meeting with the perennial powerhouse of Division II basketball as the Eagles have posted a 109-15 record over the past five seasons, including a 4-0 start this year.

Truman will take on Cedarville (Ohio) to conclude the event on Wednesday afternoon in another match-up against a new opponent. The Hornets are 1-1 on the season and will play event-host Drury on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs then return home to open up Great Lakes Valley Conference action with their first two home games of the season. On Saturday, Truman will welcome McKendree for a Saturday afternoon tip followed by the University of Indianapolis on Monday evening.

Truman State is 2-2 on the young season with half the games needing extra time before being decided. The squad went 1-1 last week with a 81-72 loss to Missouri Western in St. Joseph before pulling away in the overtime period to beat Upper Iowa 97-90 behind career highs from both Hannah Belanger (36) and Hannah Pinkston (21). Belanger's mark was the highest single-game point total by a GLVC player this season and continued her string of 20 or more points in the four games played thus far. 

Belanger leads the GLVC in scoring at 27.5 points per night while shooting 45% from outside with 15 three-pointers. 

Truman Tidbits:

This will be the Bulldogs fourth straight non-COVID season of playing in the Drury Thanksgiving Classic and fifth time overall. The Bulldogs are 3-5 in those four prior events and went 0-2 last year with losses to Union (Tenn.) and Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State. Truman had dropped three straight games in the Classic with their last win coming against Northern Michigan in 2019 67-52.

The Bulldogs have the second-best scoring offense in the GLVC at 81.5 points per game but are 11th in scoring defense at allowing 80.5 per night. Truman is first in rebounds (42.5), defensive rebounds (33.8) and assists (19.5) but are near the bottom in turnover margin (-4.5/13th), steals (4.75/12th) and opponents free throw shooting at 91%.

Hannah Belanger has blistered the nets this season with a conference-leading 27.5 points per night mark. She has climbed to eighth on the career scoring list at Truman with 1,354 and will move into seventh place with two more points. She will pass Wendi Sobaski (1,355). Belanger is the fourth Bulldog to make over 200 three-pointers in a career and is 20 shy of fourth place, Candace McGee

Hannah Belanger is seven points shy of 1,300 for her career. She climbed past teammate Katie Jaseckas for ninth on the career scoring charts over the weekend (1,274 points). Eighth place is Allie Norton at 1,342 points.

Ellie Weltha has 24 double-doubles and 31 games over her career with 10 rebounds or more. She has 615 career rebounds and is 13 shy of Maddie Re to enter the Bulldog career top 10. 

Alex Fanning is a transfer from Benedictine (Ill.) and has scored 1,058 points with 909 career rebounds and 243 career blocks. Fanning has 44 career double-doubles with 56 double-digit scoring games and 56 games of 10 or more rebounds.

The Bulldogs were picked second in the GLVC preseason coaches poll after going 18-11 last season with a 13-6 league mark.

Head Coach Theo Dean is sixth on the all-time coaching wins list at Truman in his fourth season and is 14-13 in non-conference matchups.