KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - After completing an 8-1 month of January, with seven wins at home, the Truman State women's basketball team will turn the page on the calendar and become road warriors in the month of February. The Bulldogs will play five of the seven games this month away from Pershing Arena and it begins this week with a trip to the University of Indianapolis on Thursday and McKendree on Saturday.

The Bulldogs had to gut out a pair of one-possession wins last weekend at home. Late game heroics by Hannah Belanger earned her a third Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Week award. Belanger tied the game with a three-pointer with nine seconds left then scored seven of the eight points in overtime as the Bulldogs defeated Maryville 99-97 on Thursday. The senior guard scored 19 points in the first half but her remaining two points of the game came with 2.1 seconds showing on the clock in a 72-71 win over the University of Missouri-St. Louis. 

Truman State is 8-0 at home this year but 5-4 in games played on opponents home floors. 

It will be a weekend rematch against two schools the Bulldogs opened conference play with. Truman won 86-75 over the Greyhounds and 79-72 over the Bearcats.

The road trip starts in Indianapolis where the Greyhounds are surging lately being winners of four of their last five games. Their only to losses in a six-game span came at the hands of Drury (93-74) and most recently on Saturday at Lewis 68-53. UINDY is in the fourth spot in the conference standings with a 7-5 record and a 3.17 points rating system average. 

McKendree enters the week after sweeping Quincy (63-60) and Illinois Springfield (70-63) in their last two outings. The Bearcats are 6-6 in conference play, in sixth place but currently outside the top eight in terms of the points rating system with a 2.92 average, which is ninth. The Bearcats will host William Jewell on Thursday prior to Truman State's visit.

Against Indianapolis:

It was a 14-0 run in the final six minutes to play that lifted the Bulldogs to their 86-75 win over the Greyhounds in Pershing Arena on November 28th. UINDY was up 70-66 before a pair of free throws by Belanger and a three-pointer by Gracie Stugart put Truman in front for good. UINDY would get back to within five with 2:03 to play but Nicole Dorn scored late in the shot clock that pushed the momentum back in favor of the Bulldogs. Belanger finished with 21 points and Ellie Weltha notched a double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds. The Greyhounds were led with 22 points by Idalis Ortiz. Sadie Hill leads the Greyhounds in scoring at 14 points per game. Indianapolis broke a three-game home losing streak to the Bulldogs in their last visit in 2022 by defeating Truman 70-59.   

Against McKendree:

The Bulldogs moved their winning streak to 14 games over McKendree with a 79-72 win back on November 26th. Ellie Weltha matched her career high with 29 points with 19 coming in the first half. Truman led by as many as 20 but McKendree clawed back to within six with under a minute to play. Clare Braden led McKendree by scoring 15 points. The Bulldogs won 79-55 in their last visit to Lebanon with Claire Rake scoring a career-high 21 points. The Bearcats are second in conference-only stats in shooting at 46% and second in blocked shots. Naomi McDaniel averages a team-leading 13.1 points per game.

Truman Tidbits:

Hannah Belanger continues to lead the GLVC in scoring at 22.1 points per game and 21.4 points in conference-only games. Belanger is fourth in Division II in scoring, first in the country in three-pointers made with 71 and fifth overall in field goals made with 164. She has scored in double-figures in all 21 games this season and 24 straight dating back to last season. She will be playing in her 100th career game on Thursday evening in Indianapolis.

Ellie Weltha is fourth overall in scoring (16.9 ppg) and second in rebounds (9.6 rpg). In conference games, Weltha is third in scoring at 18 points and third in boards at 9.4. She has eight double-doubles this season, three behind Alex Kerr (MST) for the conference lead.

Weltha is fourth on the career rebounding list at Truman with 786.

Alex Fanning is both two rebounds shy of 1000 and two points shy of 1200 for her career. The graduate transfer is averaging 8.2 points and 5.5 rebounds in her first season with Truman State while starting all 21 games.

Gracie Stugart has the highest single-game assist total this season with her 12 coming against William Jewell and leads the league in both overall (108) and conference-only assists (76) this season. Stugart is sixth nationally in assist/turnover ratio, 11th in total assists and 14th in assist per game (5.1).

Hannah Pinkston has been the fifth starter in all 21 games this season and averages 4.8 points overall and 4.1 points in conference play.

Emma Bulman, Claire Rake and Gracie Neff have all appeared off the bench in all games played thus far. Rake is second on the team in three-pointers with 34, Bulman is second in blocks with nine and Neff averages 2.4 points and is an 80% free throw shooter.

Theo Dean has now coached in 100 games at Truman State and has the highest winning percentage of any of the previous 10 coaches at 70%. Dean is 70-30 while going 54-15 (78%) in GLVC games. Dean is one win shy of fourth place on the all-time wins list as Karin Nichols holds the spot with 71 in her five seasons on the bench.

Up Next:

The final two home games of the regular season will take place next week with return visits by Illinois Springfield on Thursday and Lewis University on Saturday.