KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman Women's Basketball team will get down to business when they kickoff the new year with conference rival Quincy on Thursday night in Pershing Arena. The Bulldogs are 8-5 overall and 4-1 in the GLVC and have won 10 straight over the Hawks dating back to 2016.
Truman shook off their post-break rust with a 66-35 exhibition victory on Monday over William Woods (Mo.) University. Claire Rake, Emma Bulman and Hannah Belanger shared game-high honors with 13 points each.
The Bulldogs split their two games at the Florida Southern Christmas Classic back on December 16-17 in Lakeland, Florida. Belanger went over 1,500 career points with 25 in an 81-64 win over the host Florida Southern Moccasins but the team was held in check the following day when number eight Eckerd (Fla.) raced away with a 91-61 victory.
Belanger became only the fifth Truman Women's Basketball player to score over 1,500 career points (1,525) and has done so in 91 career games (16.8/g). She will pass for Bulldog Amy Eagan for fourth place on the all-time scoring list with three points and is 53 points behind third place Felicia Sutton. Eagan scored her 1,527 points in 100 career games and Sutton scored 1,578 points in 105 contests.
Quincy last played on December 19th and fell in a non-conference game to Maryville University 67-63. The Hawks are 5-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play with a win over Illinois Springfield and league losses to Indianapolis, Lewis and Drury. Beth Matas Martin leads the Hawks in scoring with 14 points per game, good for 10th in the GLVC in scoring.
This will be the first of two against Quincy this season as the return game will be played on February 18th in Quincy's Pepsi Arena.
Against Quincy:
The Bulldogs are currently riding a 10-game winning streak over the Hawks and have won nine-straight over Quincy in Pershing Arena dating back to 2008. The two teams met three times last year with Truman winning 68-59 on the road, 58-48 in Kirksville and 67-62 also in Pershing Arena in the opening round of the GLVC Postseason Tournament.
Hannah Belanger averaged 20.3 in the three meetings last season.
Overall, Truman holds a 29-25 lead in the all-time series with Quincy and have won 14 of 18 since the Bulldogs joined the GLVC in the 2013-14 season.
Truman Tidbits:
Belanger sits just outside the top 10 in active career points leaders at 11th and would be fourth of those that have played less than 100 career games.
She is seventh in Division II this season in scoring average and first in the GLVC with her 21.6 points per game mark.
Graduate transfer Alex Fanning has scored 1,128 career points along with pulling down 952 career rebounds and blocked 248 career shots.
Ellie Weltha is closing in on 1,000 career points at 953 in 82 career games. Weltha has become the sixth Bulldog to crack 700 career rebounds at 723 and is 31 shy of fifth place Katie Jaseckas on the career list at Truman.
Weltha is sixth in Division II in total rebounds (111) this season and 26th overall and first in the GLVC in rebounds per game at 10.1.
Gracie Stugart and Hannah Pinkston have completed the starting line up with those previously mentioned three players in all 13 games played this season.
Stugart leads the GLVC in assist/turnover ratio at 2.65 and is fourth in assists per game at 3.5 per outing. Stugart is averaging 6.3 points per game.
Pinkston has scored 6.0 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 13 games this season thus far. Bulman leads the bench in minutes per game at 19 and scores 7.1 points per game with a season high 14 coming against Illinois Springfield.
Rake is third on the squad in three-pointers made with 18 this season and has connected from outside in 11 of 13 games played so far.
Neff is third on the squad in assists with 27 and had nine dimes in the Florida trip with a season-high five against Florida Southern.
Nicole Dorn and Kaitlyn Patke have played in 12 and 10 games respectively. Dorn has made 12 of 13 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 24-7 (.800) in GLVC home games under coach Theo Dean. They are 47-14 all-time in conference games under Coach Dean.
Theo Dean is five 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.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will receive the first of two GLVC byes on Saturday with the odd number of teams this season. Their next "bye" on the schedule will be Thursday, February 16th.
Truman will play three conference home games in five days next week with visits from William Jewell (Jan. 12), Rockhurst (Jan. 14) and Southwest Baptist (Jan. 16).
