INDIANAPOLIS - The Truman State Women's basketball team was ranked ninth in the NCAA Midwest regional rankings that were announced on Wednesday by the Association. The Bulldogs are at 18-8 overall in Division II and 17-7 within the midwest region. The Great Lakes Valley Conference, Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) comprise the NCAA Midwest region with each conference getting one automatic bid to the Division II tournament and five other at-large bids at stake.
Ashland (GMAC) is the top ranked school followed by Drury (GLVC), Grand Valley State (GLIAC), Michigan Tech (GLIAC), Kentucky Wesleyan (GMAC), Trevecca Nazarene (GMAC), Lewis (GLVC), Malone (GMAC), Truman and Wisconsin-Parkside (GLIAC).
There will be one more ranking released next Wednesday before the tournament selections are made the following Sunday.
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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The final weekend of the regular season has the Truman State women traveling to the Kansas City area for a pair of games. The Bulldogs will be at Rockhurst on Thursday night and William Jewell on Saturday as they try to solidify the number two seed in the upcoming Great Lakes Valley Conference postseason tournament.
The Bulldogs picked up win number 18 on Saturday with a 67-51 victory over Quincy University on Saturday. Hannah Belanger scored 20 points and Ellie Weltha and Alex Fanning each recorded double-doubles with Weltha scoring 17 and 12 rebounds and Fanning scoring 12 and 10 rebounds.
Although tied with Lewis in the GLVC standings with a 14-4 record, the Bulldogs have an edge in the points-rating system by four-hundredths of a point. It will be interesting to watch how the PSR plays out this weekend with the Flyers having the "toughest" schedule with +.500 Miners and the undefeated Lady Panthers upcoming and Truman has the sub .500 Hawks and sub .250 Cardinals. Rockhurst is currently on the outside looking in for a conference tournament spot with a 7-11 league record and 12-14 overall mark. The Hawks had their three-game winning streak stopped on Saturday as Lewis beat them 74-62. Belanger and Weltha each scored over 20 points in January's 75-62 win against Rockhurst. The game was tied at 34 at half but a 16-9 third quarter allowed the Bulldogs to pull away. The last time they visited Rockhurst, the Bulldogs were defeated 72-68.
William Jewell has been mired in a 13-game losing streak entering the week and will close out their season with Truman State being their only game on the docket. The Cardinals last win came on January 5th with a 76-63 victory over Illinois Springfield. Their other conference win came over Rockhurst.
Truman won 99-53 in Kirksville back on January 12th with 23 points from Belanger.
Team Season Milestone Watch:
The Bulldogs 78.7 scoring average currently ranks fifth all-time, the single season record is 84.4 points per game set in the 1989-90 season.
The team's .461 shooting percentage is currently tied for tops all-time. The record is .469 set in the COVID shortened 2020-21 season and .454 set in 1998-99.
The Bulldogs have already set a single-season record for three-pointers made with 253. The previous high mark was 236 in 2018-19.
The team's 443 assists are eighth in the single-season top 10. The record is 515 set in1980-81 and the assist per game (17.0) is sixth best with the record being 17.8 set in 1986-87.
Individual Season Milestone Watch:
Hannah Belanger's 576 points scored is the second most in a season. The record is 638 held by Georgia Mueller (29 games) in 2007-08.
The scoring average mark is also in jeopardy with Belanger sitting at 22.2 points per game while Mueller was at 22.0 in 07-08.
Belanger owns the three-pointer made record with 89 as the previous record was 80 held by assistant coach Amy Briggs in 2013-14.
Her .464 shooting behind the arc is well clear of Allie Norton's .452 mark set in 2012-13.
Belanger is second in Division II in triples made and is second in threes per game. Her 46.5 shooting mark is fourth in DII.
Gracie Stugart is seventh in single-season assists with 134. The record in 187 by Susan Thereof in 90-91. Stugart is seventh in DII in assist/turnover ratio and ninth in the country in total assists.
Career Milestones:
Belanger owns the career three-point record with 284, is first in three-point attempts (709), second points per game (17.5) and third in points scored (1,820).
Ellie Weltha is fourth all-time in rebounds with 826. Third place is Georgia Mueller with 876. Weltha's .568 career field goal shooting percentage currently holds the top spot of all players with a minimum of 200 made, the current high is .548 by Katie Jaseckas.
While not counting on the Truman career lists, graduate transfer Alex Fanning has eye-popping career stats. Fanning has scored 1,263 points, pulled down 1,037 rebounds, blocked 261 shots and recorded 100 career steals.
Truman Tidbits:
Truman State has won 15 or more games for 12 straight years now with their current 18-8 record. They have won 10 or more league games for 13 straight seasons and have topped last year's 13 win GLVC total with their current 14-4 record.
The conference wins record for the Bulldogs is 16 set in 2019-20.
The Bulldogs have won 20 or more games seven times in their history with the last coming in the 2019-20 season.
The Bulldogs have used the same starting lineup all season with Hannah Belanger, Hannah Pinkston, Alex Fanning, Ellie Weltha and Gracie Stugart making all 26 starts thus far.
Claire Rake, Emma Bulman and Gracie Neff have each appeared off the bench in all 26 games. Rake is second in three-pointers made with 49.
Maddie Niemeier has played in the last 13 straight after missing 10 of the first 13 games this season.
The Bulldogs have played four overtime games this season and are 2-2 in those contests.
The team has scored 80 points or more in 12 games this year and has a record of 9-3 in those games.
Head Coach Theo Dean is fourth on the career coaching wins list at Truman with 73. His .693 winning percentage is tops among all 11 previous coaches. Dean's teams are 57-17 in GLVC games and 26-9 in conference road games.
