KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - The Truman State Women's Basketball team looks to become the second squad in school history to complete a perfect home schedule when they host their final two game in Pershing Arena this weekend. The Bulldogs are 8-0 at home and will host Illinois Springfield on Thursday evening followed by Lewis University on Saturday afternoon.
Truman only other perfect season at home came in the 2012-13 season when the Bulldogs won all 13 games played in Kirksville. This year, Truman has won all eight at home and are riding a 10-game winning streak dating back to last season. The longest home winning streak occurred from 2012-2014 when the Bulldogs tallied 23 straight wins.
The Bulldogs split their road trip to start February with a one-possession loss to the University of Indianapolis (75-72) on Thursday before blowing out McKendree 82-54 on Saturday. Hannah Belanger closed to within two made three-pointers from the single-season record of 80, held by current assistant coach Amy Briggs (in 30 games) and four back of the career mark of 277 set by Allie Norton from 2011-15.
Truman State held on to their second spot in the league standings and are 12-3 in conference play this season. They have a 4.07 points rating system average and comfortably in front of third place Lewis and fourth place Indianapolis.
Before the showdown with Lewis on Saturday, Illinois Springfield will be in town and will look to build upon their last trip to Kirksville. The Prairie Stars won their first game in Pershing Arena a year ago when they held the Bulldogs to a season-low 46 points in a 60-46 win. UIS has struggled to a 2-20 overall record this season and are 2-12 in GLVC play. They have lost their last four games.
Lewis are winners in their last three and had Truman on the ropes in Romeoville back in December. The Flyers led by 13 at the end of three quarters but did not score until a free throw with 1:17 left to play after Truman had turned the game around by 18 points and led by five. Lewis made just one field goal in the quarter, a three-pointer with three seconds left to fall 71-65 to the Bulldogs.
Since that loss to Truman, Lewis reeled off seven straight wins and have gone 12-3, including the last three wins at home over Indianapolis, Quincy and Illinois Springfield.
Against Illinois Springfield:
Truman is 13-2 all-time against UIS and defeated the Prairie Stars 86-79 back on December 3rd in Springfield. Hannah Belanger rained in five three-pointers and scored 29 points while four others, Ellie Weltha, Hannah Pinkston, Emma Bulman and Gracie Neff all hit double-figure scoring on the game. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 22-14 lead after one and led by as many as 18 in the second half. UIS trimmed the margin to six but could get no closer. Three Prairie Stars scored over 20 points as only six players played. Ariyah Douglas led with 26 points with five three-pointers, Brianna Zajicek scored 23 and Ava Bardic chipped in 22. The other eight points came from Ivey Schmidt.
Against Lewis:
Lewis held the early upper hand in the series with the Bulldogs but Truman State has won five of the last six match-ups. The lone loss came last year in the conference tournament 83-75.
Truman outscored Lewis 25-6 in the fourth quarter in their 71-65 win back on December 1st in Romeoville. Ellie Weltha scored 18 and added 13 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs in scoring while Hannah Belanger scored 14 and Gracie Stugart added 12. Grace Hilber scored 15 points and Kathryn Schmidt and Jenna Badali had 14 and 13 points respectively. Truman led by three after one but were outscored 43-27 in quarters two and three before the dramatic come back.
Truman Tidbits:
Truman State is tops in the GLVC in six statistical categories and second in another three. The Bulldogs led the conference in shooting at 46% overall and 37% from outside. The team is first in three-pointers made per game at 9.7 and have the most three-pointers made (222) by 50 over Illinois Springfield.
The Bulldogs are sixth in Division II in three-pointers made per game and 10th in three-point shooting.
Their highest national ranking is fifth in defensive rebounds per game at 30.4 per game, ironically, the Bulldogs are last in the conference and 286th nationally in offensive rebounds at just 7.5 per night.
Hannah Belanger is the top three-point shooter in Division II with 78 made (3.4/game). She is third across all three Divisions trailing Division I players Sammie Puisis of South Florida (85) and Abbey Hsu of Columbia (79).
Ellie Weltha's 16.2 points per game mark is fifth in the GLVC this season and her 9.3 rebounds is third. Weltha is second in the conference in double-doubles with eight and has 32 for her career.
Alex Fanning climbed over 1,000 career rebounds over the road trip (1013) and is in the top 30 of active rebounders across all three NCAA Divisions. Fanning scored a season-high 24 points against Indianapolis last week.
Gracie Stugart is sixth nationally and tops in the GLVC in assist/turnover ratio a 3.4. She is in the top 10 in assists in Division II with 115 and 17th in assists per game at five. She is six away from entering the single-season top 10 at Truman State.
Hannah Pinkston has been the fifth starter in all 23 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 39, Bulman is second in blocks with nine and Neff averages 2.4 points and is an 82% free throw shooter.
Theo Dean has now coached in over 100 games at Truman State and has the highest winning percentage of any of the previous 10 coaches at 70%. Dean is 71-31 while going 55-16 (78%) in GLVC games. Dean is currently tied four fourth on the all-time wins list with Karin Nichols. The five-year coach (Nichols) won 71 games from 1995-2000.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will be off Thursday, February 16 and will next take the court on February 18th with a rematch of a 68-56 win over Quincy University.
