KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Following a 2-0 start and earning the Great Lakes Valley Conference's first player of the week award, the Truman State Women's Basketball team heads to Minnesota for a second conference challenge weekend.
 
The Bulldogs will play at Concordia-St. Paul on Friday then make the trip over to Winona State on Saturday. Maryville University will be the other GLVC school involved in the challenge and will be playing opposite to Truman State.
 
The match was lit in the third quarter of the opener against Cedarville on Friday. The Bulldogs trailed the Yellow Jackets 40-37 but outscored Cedarville 23-11 in the third quarter to win 74-61. Four of the five starters all finished in double-figures led by Maddie Niemeier's career-high 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Jordan Cunningham added 17, Molly Joyce 11 and Bryar Duwe a career-best 10. The starters accounted for 66 of the 74 points.
 
The next afternoon it was the Molly Joyce Show. Joyce dropped in six three-pointers, finished 10-of-16 from the field and made all eight free throws in establishing a new career-mark with 34 points in the Bulldogs victory over Ursuline (Ohio) 81-60.  Joyce earned her first GLVC Women's Basketball Player of the Week award.
 
The Bulldogs have blistered the nets in their first two games by making 49% of their shot attempts and nearly 40 of their three-point tries. Joyce is shooting 56% overall and 54% from distance and averages 22.5 points with four steals.
 
Niemeier has made almost 70% of her shot attempts (16-of-23) while Cunningham is at 56% from the floor and 12.5 points per game. Cunningham has six of the team's 20 steals through the first two games.
 
Duwe is fourth in scoring 11 points per night after making her first two collegiate starts with five of her eight field goals being three-pointers. Lexi White has been the fifth starter in the two games plus the exhibition season and has averaged 4.5 points per game.
 
Off the bench, Emma Bulman and Gracie Neff both averaged over 15 minutes in the two ballgames over the weekend. Bulman made four of six shot attempts and grabbed five rebounds and two steals while Neff dished out four assists and nabbed three defensive boards.
 
Also appearing over the weekend were Mallory Ott, McKenna Williams, Lizzie Boehm and Katelyn Odem. Ott, Williams and Odem each made their Bulldog debuts.
 
About the Opponents:
Concordia-St. Paul returns four starters and a fifth player that was all-conference a year ago and missed all of last season due to injury to a squad that was 20-8 overall and picked third in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
 
Lydia Haack missed all of the 2023-24 campaign but opened the new year with 27 points against Missouri Southern and 17 against Central Missouri as Concordia-St. Paul defeated those programs in the opening weekend.
 
Last year in Pershing Arena, Ally Gietzel made a steal and scored as time expired to give the Golden Bears a 74-72 win over Truman State.  Lauren Wilson scored a game-high 26 points and Lindsey Becher added 21 for CSP while the Bulldogs got 15 each from former players Claire Rake and Ellie Weltha.
 
Winona State will be the opponent on Saturday and were picked 10^th in the NSIC coaches' poll after finishing 10-18 a year ago. The Warriors dropped both of their games in the opening weekend falling to Missouri Western 90-63 and Southeastern Oklahoma State 75-74.
 
Olivia Gamoke made seven three-pointers over the tournament and averaged 15 points. Mattie Schiemenz chipped in 13.5 per contest. Gamoke was the Warriors leading scorer in 23-24 averaging 9.4 points per night with 40 triples.
 
In last year's game in Kirksville, Truman led 22-12 after the first quarter and cruised to an 83-59 win.
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will play a pair of home games next weekend when they welcome back Washburn (Kan.) for a Friday 11 a.m. start time on November 22 and a non-conference tilt with the Quincy (Ill.) Hawks at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Washburn will be making their first trip back to Kirksville since 2012 when the two schools were both members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The teams played a non-league game in Topeka in November 2017 with the Ichabods winning 68-67.
 
Truman plays at Quincy for a GLVC game in late January but with the close proximity of the two schools, added a non-conference game to help fill the schedule. The Bulldogs have lost the last two to the Hawks after winning taking 12 straight.