KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule makers have docked three games over the next five days for the Truman State Women's Basketball team. The good news for the Bulldogs is that all three will be played in the friendly confines of Pershing Arena where the team has won five straight home games and are 25-7 under coach Theo Dean in league games.
Truman is 5-1 in conference play this season and are one game back of undefeated Drury University for first place. Truman, Lewis and Maryville each have five league wins thus far. The Bulldogs downed Quincy last Thursday 68-56 behind 24 points from Hannah Belanger. That total moved the senior guard into fourth place on the Bulldog all-time scoring list as she surpassed All-American and Truman Hall of Fame player Amy Eagan's 1,527 points. It was the 10th straight win for the Bulldogs over the Quincy Hawks, the longest stretch of the series.
Truman State will open the stretch with William Jewell on Thursday night. The Cardinals are 4-13 overall and 2-5 in conference play coming off a Saturday loss to Quincy 69-52. Jewell features some balanced scoring with four players averaging over eight points a game led by Ayden Shannon at 10.8.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs will welcome the Rockhurst Hawks for an afternoon game. Rockhurst is 6-8 overall and 1-5 in the conference and will be at Quincy on Thursday. The Hawks saw their three-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday to Illinois Springfield 84-71.
To round out the three-game set, it will be the return meeting between the Bulldogs and Bearcats of Southwest Baptist University. SBU handed Truman their only loss in conference play this season when the Bearcats handled the Bulldogs 72-59 back on December 10th. To date, it was SBU's only conference win. Truman will catch the Bearcats at the end of a three-game road swing with stops at Illinois Springfield and Quincy.
Against William Jewell:
Truman State is 15-4 all-time against the Cardinals and have won the last six. The Bulldogs are 9-0 against Jewell in Pershing Arena including the only meeting last season 73-61 on February 17th. Ellie Weltha scored 21 with 14 rebounds and Hannah Belanger added 20 for TSU while Katie Knock scored 17 and was one of four Cardinal players in double-figures. Jewell led by two after the first quarter but Truman won the second quarter by nine 22-13.
Against Rockhurst:
The Bulldogs will look to avenge a late season loss in Kansas City to the Hawks last season 72-68. Ellie Weltha scored 26 points for Truman and Daly Sullivan paced Rockhurst with 23. Truman led by 13 at half but were outscored 27-15 in the third and 12-7 in the fourth quarter to fall. Truman is 19-8 overall over Rockhurst and 10-3 at home against the Hawks. The Bulldogs had won five straight over Rockhurst until last season's defeat.
Against Southwest Baptist:
Kelsey Blakemore hit a three-pointer late in the third quarter to break a 45-all tie and that would spark SBU to outscore the Bulldogs 27-14 over the final 13 minutes of the game. Ellie Weltha scored 18 points and Hannah Belanger added 13 while SBU was led by Blakemore's 19 points, all off the bench. The Bearcats hold a 33-21 advantage over the Bulldogs in the all-time series and are 15-12 over the Bulldogs in Pershing Arena. Truman has won the last six meetings in Kirksville including 47-41 in 2021.
Truman Tidbits:
Belanger sits just outside the NCAA Division II top 10 in active career points leaders at 12th and would be second of those on the list that have played less than 100 career games.
She is sixth in Division II this season in scoring average and first in the GLVC with her 21.8 points per game mark. Belanger has scored 20 or more points in 9 of the 14 games this season with a high mark of 36 against Upper Iowa.
Graduate transfer Alex Fanning has scored 1,135 career points along with pulling down 955 career rebounds and blocked 249 career shots. She played the past four seasons at Benedictine (Ill.) University.
Ellie Weltha is closing in on 1,000 career points at 963 in 83 career games. Weltha has become the sixth Bulldog to crack 700 career rebounds at 730 and is 23 shy of fifth place Katie Jaseckas on the career list at Truman.
Weltha is 12th in Division II in total rebounds (146) this season and leads the GLVC in rebounding average at 10.4 per night.
Gracie Stugart and Hannah Pinkston have completed the starting line up with those previously mentioned three players in all 14 games played this season.
Stugart leads the GLVC in assist/turnover ratio at 2.9 and is third in assists per game at 3.9 per outing. Stugart is averaging 6.3 points per game and coming off a 10-assist game against Quincy.
Pinkston has scored 5.8 points per game this season. Pinkston scored a season-high 21 in Truman's win at Upper Iowa on November 19th.
Gracie Neff, Emma Bulman and Claire Rake are the only three other Bulldogs to appear in all 14 games this season thus far. Bulman leads the bench in minutes per game at 19 and scores 6.9 points per game with a season high 14 coming against Illinois Springfield.
Rake is third on the squad in three-pointers made with 20 this season and has connected from outside in 12 of 14 games played so far.
Neff is third on the squad in assists with 28 and had nine dimes in the Florida trip with a season-high five against Florida Southern.
Nicole Dorn and Kaitlyn Patke have played in 13 and 10 games respectively. Dorn has made 13 of 15 field goal attempts this season with six assists, three blocks and three steals. Patke averages 5.1 minutes per night with a pair of steals.
The Bulldogs are 25-7 (.800) in GLVC home games under coach Theo Dean. They are 48-14 all-time in conference games under Coach Dean.
Theo Dean is four wins away from tying Michael Smith for fifth on the Bulldog career coaching list. His .697 winning percentage ranks first out of the 11 all-time Truman State women's basketball coaches.
