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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman State Women's Basketball team will begin a stretch of six games in 11 days when they host a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference programs on consecutive days starting on Friday.
 
Truman will welcome for the first time in Pershing Arena, Winona (Minn.) State and Concordia-St. Paul. Those schools along with Maryville (Mo.) University will comprise the NSIC/GLVC Challenge this weekend with the teams flip-flopping locations each day. The Warriors will play the Bulldogs on Friday at 5 p.m. then travel to St. Louis to face the Saints on Saturday while Concordia will face the Saints on Friday then make the trip to Kirksville for a Saturday 3 p.m. start.
 
The Bulldogs are 1-1 following a split of games against schools from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in Quincy last weekend. Truman led by 11 points midway through the second quarter but then went dormant in the third scoring just five points and making one field goal in a 66-57 loss to Ursuline (Ohio). 
 
The team finished strong in the second half of the challenge by outscoring Cedarville 21-12 in the final quarter and pulled away with an 85-68 win. Four players scored in double-figures for the Bulldogs led by Ellie Weltha and Bailey Kliewer's double-doubles. 
 
Weltha earned the first Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week award following her weekend performance. The graduate senior averaged 20.5 points and 13 rebounds in the two games and shot a blistering 75% from the field. She missed only once inside the three-point arc and added nine of 10 from the free throw line, dished out a pair of assists each game and had four blocks and a steal to stuff the stat sheet. It was her third career GLVC Player of the Week award.
 
Ainsley Tolson drove the engine of the Bulldog offense and had 12 assists while averaging 14 points in the two games. She was the top Truman State free throw shooter with 13-of-15 made in the pair and is no stranger to getting to the free throw line. Tolson for her career at William Jewell, Avila and Baker has 15 career games in which she has shot 10 or more free throws in a contest and has a career-high 17 free throws made in a game against Mount Mercy last season. To put her free throw shooting in Truman's perspective, her 490 career makes would be tops on the Bulldog chart, passing Amy Eagan's 100-game total of 483. She has been to the line 605 times and makes 81% of her attempts.
Claire Rake led the team with four three-pointers made while Kliewer made three of her five three-point attempts for second.
 
For the weekend, the Bulldogs shot 44% from the field as a team and 29% from beyond the arc making 11 of 38 three-point attempts. The team averaged 14 assists per game but also averaged 19.5 turnovers per contest.
 
Six Bulldogs averaged over 20 minutes per game led by Weltha's 30.8 and followed by Rake at 28.6, Emma Bulman at 27.1, Kliewer at 26.3, Lexie White at 21.8 and Tolson at 21.1. Four others also averaged over 10 minutes per game, Madison Niemeier, Lizzie Boehm, Gracie Neff and Molly Joyce.
 
Head Coach Theo Dean is in his fifth season at the helm of the Bulldogs and has a career record of 76-35 (.688) which places him fourth on the all-time coaching wins list at the school He is 11 wins shy of third place and John Sloop. His .688 winning percentage is first among all head coaches of the program.
 
In non-conference games under Coach Dean, the Bulldogs are 18-16 overall and 17-17 in Division II non-conference tilts. 
 
About The Opponents:
 
Winona State dropped their first two games during the opening weekend of the season to Missouri Western 90-63 and Southeastern Oklahoma State 75-74. Olivia Gamoke (15.0/g) and Mattie Schimenz (14.5/g) led the Warriors in scoring. Last season, Winona State finished 11-17 and 5-17 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. 
 
Concordia-St. Paul played in the same Central Region crossover event with Winona State and split their games. They beat Southeastern Oklahoma 67-43 in the opener but fell 84-71 to Missouri Western. They had three players average double digits in scoring led by Ally Gietzel (16.0/g), Lindsey Becher (14.0/g) and Lauren Wilson (12.5/g). The Golden Bears were 14-14 and 10-12 in the NSIC last season.
 
Up Next:
It will be a quick turnaround for the Bulldogs as the pre-Thanksgiving tournament at Drury University will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Followed by the start of conference play. Truman will play future GLVC member Lincoln (Mo.) at 1 p.m. on Tuesday followed by Davenport (Mich.) on Wednesday. 
Conference games tip off on next Saturday with a trip to McKendree for a 1 p.m. start.