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Maryville - Live Video ($) | Live Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes (PDF)
Missouri S&T – Live Video ($) | Live Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes (PDF)
 
 
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The longest and final homestand of the season will begin on Thursday evening when the Truman State women host Maryville University at 5:15 p.m. in Pershing Arena.
 
The Bulldogs will be the host for four straight home games and hopes to climb up the Great Lakes Valley Conference point ratings standings in pursuit of a conference tournament bid. Truman jumped up a spot after a nice 79-72 road win over the University of Indianapolis on Saturday after the Greyhounds had won in Kirksville by 26 on January 3^rd.
 
The Bulldogs led for over 36 minutes in the win on Saturday and had five players reach double figures in scoring. Maddie Niemeier scored a career-high with 18 points and added eight rebounds. Ellie Weltha scored 17 with eight boards and Claire Rake (12), Gracie Neff (11) and Emma Bulman (10) were the others. Truman State had a season-low nine turnovers in the game.
 
On Thursday at Lewis, Truman recorded their best scoring run of the season with an 18-0 burst in the third quarter, however the Flyers were able to throw water on the Bulldog fire and win in Romeoville 71-57. The Bulldogs trailed 47-24 when Molly Joyce connected on consecutive three-pointers and scored 12 points during the run that forced a Flyers timeout with the score whittled down to 47-42. Joyce finished with 20 points, Weltha recorded her 42^nd career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Niemeier added 15 points.
 
This will be the first and only regular season meetings with Maryville and Missouri S&T. Truman will be looking to maintain double-digit winning streaks against both programs. The Bulldogs have won the last 10 against the Saints including their last meeting in the first round of the GLVC Basketball tournament in St. Charles in which Truman rolled to an 84-56 win. During this current 10-game winning streak, three of the wins have needed overtime to be decided with the last occurring in the Saints visit to Pershing Arena last January in a 99-97 overtime Truman State win.
 
Maryville is fourth in the GLVC points rating standings and boasts a 13-9 overall record and 10-6 conference record. The Saints had their six-game winning streak snapped a week ago Saturday at home by Indianapolis 80-55 but rebounded with a 67-40 win a week later over Missouri S&T. Maryville is ranked second in scoring defense in conference games allowing 64.8 points per game.
The Bulldogs are riding a 12-game winning streak over Missouri S&T and have not lost a GLVC game to the Miners since Truman joined the league during the 2013-14 season. The Miners last win over the Bulldogs was 57-55 in December of 2006. Last year, Hannah Belanger tallied 32 points in an 86-63 win in Rolla.
 
The Miners are last in the GLVC in scoring offense at 64.4 points scored in conference games but are third in three-point shooting defense. Missouri S&T is 6-18 overall, 3-13 in conference and has lost four of their last five games. They will play Upper Iowa in Fayette on Thursday prior to visiting Kirksville on Saturday.
 
About the Bulldogs:
Ellie Weltha climbed into fifth place with eyes on fourth place on the Truman State all-time scoring list last week. Weltha passed former Bulldog coach Amy Eagan for the fifth-place spot and now sits with 1,556 points. She is 22 back of Felicia Sutton and fourth place, where she will most likely end up. Weltha is 33 rebounds away from tying for second place all-time with 1084 by Carol Jarrard.
 
For the season, Weltha is one of two Bulldogs to start and play in all 22 games this season and leads the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game. She is fifth in the GLVC in overall scoring and 12^th in conference games at 15.6. She is fifth in conference only rebounding at 8.8 per outing.
 
Claire Rake is the other Bulldog to play and start in all 22 games thus far. She is the team leader in three-pointers made with 49 this season and has taken 147 shots from distance. Rake is eighth in conference three-pointers made per game at 2.2. Her season high in points and triples made was 23 on seven against Southwest Baptist on January 18.
 
Freshman Molly Joyce is second on the team in scoring at 9.5 points per outing and has started the last eight games. Joyce has three 20-point plus outing during those eight games and has averaged 12.3 points as a starter. Her single-game high in points was 24 against Drury on January 20^th.
 
Gracie Neff has started the last 14 games and taken over the team lead in assists with 89. She has one double-double this season that came against Drury with a season-high 13 points and 10 assists. Neff is fourth in both conference-only and overall assists per game at 4.4 and 4.0 dimes respectively per game. 
 
Maddie Niemeier has started the last 10 straight games. During that stretch, she had averaged 10 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. She scored her career high of 18 points in Saturday's victory at the University of Indianapolis. She has two double-doubles this season.
 
Bailey Kliewer and Emma Bulman are the only other two Bulldogs that have played in all 22 games this season and both have made starts at well. Kliewer started the first 12 games and has scored in double figures in eight games this year. She averages 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. She played the past four seasons at Rogers (Okla.) State and has 1,226 career points in 128 career games played. Her Truman State high in points in a game is 19 against Southwest Baptist on January 18.
 
Bulman has started 11 games this season with a single-game high of 18 points against McKendree back in November. She averages 6.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per outing. She has played in 78 career games over the past three seasons for Truman State and has 19 career blocked shots. Bulman has made 47-of-55 free throws this year at 85%.
 
Freshman Lizzie Boehm has averaged nearly 20 minutes per game in the last six contests. She has appeared in 17 overall games. Her single-game high is six points in a game coming on two different occasions, the first against Southwest Baptist on January 18 and most recently Saturday against Indianapolis.
 
As a team, Truman is shooting 43% overall and scoring 70.5 points per game while opponents are shooting 42% overall and averaging 74.9 points. The Bulldogs are making 6.5 three-pointers per game, 15.8 free throws per outing, shooting 76% from the line. In the 16 GLVC games, the Bulldogs are shooting 42% overall, 27% from distance and 75% at the line.  
 
The team, on average, scores the most points in the fourth quarter at 19.2 per game and the fewest points in the first quarter at 16.3 per game. Opponents score their most points in the third quarter with a 20.3 per game average.
 
Theo Dean is in his fifth season at Truman State and has an 81-50 record. He is currently fourth on the all-time wins list at Truman State. Dean's teams have nearly won 66% of his GLVC games during his tenure with a 61-31 conference record. His squads are 32-14 in GLVC home games and 30-17 in conference road games.
 
Up Next:
The last two home games of the season will be next weekend when Illinois Springfield and Quincy come calling. Both teams have wins over the Bulldogs from earlier this season.