KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - A new Great Lakes Valley Conference season will begin on Saturday as the Truman State Women's Basketball team will lift the lid on the league slate with a home contest against McKendree University. It will be the first of four games in the next eight day span as the conference scheduled continues with a home game against Indianapolis on Monday night followed by a road trip to Lewis (Thursday) and Illinois Springfield (next Saturday.)

Truman State has alternated wins and losses this season to a tune of a 3-3 record with all six games played away from Pershing Arena. Last Saturday, Truman downed Upper Iowa 97-90 in overtime but then ran into one of the nation's top teams in Ashland and fell 96-88 in the first of two games played in Springfield, Missouri on Tuesday. The Bulldogs bounced back behind Ellie Weltha's 23-point, 14 rebound effort in a 70-63 win over Cedarville (Ohio) on Wednesday afternoon.

After dropping their first three games, McKendree has two straight wins heading into Saturday's contest. The Bearcats lost to Tiffin (Ohio) 51-41 and Purdue Northwest (Ind.) 75-46 in the opening weekend, lost 64-50 to Winona (Minn.) State before picking up wins over Rogers (Okla.) State (66-57) and Blackburn (Ill.) 106-34. 

McKendree ended last year on a 10-game losing streak and finished 3-23 overall and 2-16 in the GLVC. They were picked to finish 12th in the preseason coaches poll.

On Monday, the 2-2 Greyhounds of Indianapolis will be the opponent in Pershing Arena after they make a quick stop on Saturday to open conference play against Quincy (Ill.) University. The Greyhounds started 0-2 but have since defeated Hillsdale (Mich.) and Northwood (Mich.) to even their record. UINDY was picked sixth in the preseason poll after going 10-17 overall and 7-11 in the GLVC a year ago.

Against McKendree:

The Bulldogs have been dominate over the Bearcats to the tune of an 18-1 all-time record against McKendree. They have won all nine meetings in Pershing Arena and have won all 12 games played under the GLVC league banner. McKendree's only win came in 1988.

The teams twice last season with the Bulldogs winning handily in each. In the first one played in Lebanon, Katey Klucking scored 28 and Claire Rake scored 21 in a 79-55 victory. In Kirksville a few weeks later, 12 Bulldogs scored points with Hannah Pinkston and Gracie Stugart leading the way with a dozen points. 

Against Indianapolis:

The series with the Greyhounds has been unpredictable at best with each team having a better record on their opponents home court. UINDY has won the last two to have a 10-8 series lead. Last year in Indianapolis was the first time a home team had won since the 2018 season, a span of five games. The Greyhounds won 78-74 in overtime in their last trip to Pershing Arena back in 2021. In last year's 70-59 UINDY win, the Greyhounds knocked down six early three-pointers and halted the Bulldogs eight-game road winning streak. Hannah Belanger scored 20 points and Lauren With led UINDY with 17.

Truman Tidbits:

The Bulldogs have won 10 or more conference games in the last 12 seasons and were 13-6 last year, good for the second place in the Central Division and earning the fourth seed in the postseason tournament. 

Truman is 43-13 (.767) in GLVC games under the direction of Head Coach Theo Dean and are 22-7 in conference home games during that span.

Hannah Belanger is fourth in Division II scoring this season with a 24.7 points per game mark. She had scored 20 or more points in the first five games this season with a career-high of 36 points against Upper Iowa. That point total is the high-mark of all GLVC scorers this season in a single-game.

Belanger has 1,392 career points, good for seventh on the all-time Truman State list. Next on her horizon is Jennifer Perkins (1,461). Her 214 three-pointers made is 16 back of third place and Candace McGee. 

Ellie Weltha is second in scoring at 13.7 points and is the top rebounder at 8.7 per game. Weltha has 25 career double-doubles.

Alex Fanning is averaging 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds this season. Fanning has over 1,000 career points (1,087) after transferring in from Benedictine (Ill.) and has 246 blocked shots and 922 career rebounds. 

Hannah Pinkston (7.3 ppg) and Gracie Stugart (7.2 ppg) have both started all six games with the three players mentioned above.