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Southwest Baptist - Live Video ($) | Live Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes (PDF)
Drury – Live Video ($) | Live Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes (PDF)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The final weekend of the regular season will take the Truman State Women's Basketball team to southwest Missouri and games against Southwest Baptist and Drury. The Bulldogs are still on the outside looking in for a spot in next week's Great Lakes Valley Conference postseason tournament.
The Bulldogs are at 4-16 in conference play and have a 2.50 mark in the points rating system that determines the top eight spots for the league tournament. That ranking is 13th with 3.20 the target mark for the eighth spot. The Bulldogs will need to jump four teams in order to avoid the first miss of a conference postseason tournament since the 2009 season.
Truman State averaged over 93 points in their two games at home last week. They dealt Illinois Springfield a 98-83 loss last Thursday but lost to Quincy 92-89 on Saturday. In both games, graduate senior Ellie Weltha scored 25 points and pulled down 20 total rebounds while playing in all but nine minutes between the two games. Weltha has scored over 20 points in her last three games and is now in fourth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,641 points and second in rebounds with 1,091. She has been in double-figures in 24 of the 26 games started this year.
Southwest Baptist is just ahead of the Bulldogs in the PRS with a 2.68 rating. The Bearcats are 6-14 in conference action and 10-16 overall. They broke a four-game losing streak on Saturday with a 72-67 win on the road against Missouri S&T.
Truman dominated the Bearcats 99-75 in Pershing Arena back on January 18th. The Bulldogs trailed by three after the first quarter but outscored SBU 57-30 in the middle two rounds to claim the win. Claire Rake knocked down seven three pointers and finished with 23 points. Bailey Kliewer added 19 and Maddie Niemeier recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards. The 16 team three-pointers were the most by the team in a game this season. The Bearcats made 10 threes on the game and were led with 12 points apiece by Odett Schlegl and Claudia Vanzant.
After a rare three-game losing streak by Drury earlier this season, the Panthers had reeled off 13 straight wins until Maryville upset Drury 77-75 on Saturday. The Saints' Carsyn Fearday scored a Maryville school record 40 points in the win. Drury enters the week one game back of Lewis for the regular season GLVC title and they Lady Panthers are tied for second with McKendree in the PRS with both schools at 4.18 trailing Lewis' 4.30 rating.
In the earlier season match-up with Drury, Beth Matas Martin scored 28 points and Caitlynn Daniels added 26 in the Lady Panthers 92-82 win over the Bulldogs. Drury had two quarters of 30 or more points but were also outscored by the Bulldogs in the two other quarters. Molly Joyce led Truman in scoring with 24 points and Ellie Weltha added 22. Gracie Neff recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists.
About the Bulldogs:
In five seasons with the Bulldogs, Ellie Weltha will etch her name among the greats in program history. She will be first in career games played at over 125, first in career field goal percentage at .562, second in total rebounds (1,090), fourth in field goals made (619), scoring average (8.7), points scored (1,641) and eighth in free throws made (299).
Weltha has scored in double-figures in 85 of 125 games played and has 44 career double-doubles. Her single-game career high has been 29 points on two occasions and 19 rebounds against Southern Indiana in 2022. She is a three-time all-GLVC selection, twice on the first team. She has played two years of softball at Truman and last spring was the discus champion at the GLVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships and a second-team all-American in the Division II Shot Put.
Claire Rake is the only other Bulldogs to play and start in all 26 games this season and is the team leader in three-pointers made with 63 on 176 attempts. She was a multi-year member of the GLVC All-Academic team and was honored as a Distinguished Scholar last season with a 4.0 GPA. She has appeared in 86 career games with 140 triples and a 6.3 points per game mark. Her single-game high is 23 against Southwest Baptist earlier this season.
Bailey Kliewer is in her graduate season with the Bulldogs after playing four years at Rogers (Okla.) State. She earned all-MIAA accolades and was only the fourth Rogers State player to achieve 1,000 career points. She has played in over 130 collegiate games and has scored over 1,200 points with a 9.5 career scoring average. Her career high is 25 against Newman in 2023. Kliewer has played in all 24 games this season for Truman, averaging seven points per game.
Freshman Molly Joyce will be a candidate for freshman honors within the league after playing in all 26 games and starting the last 12 for the Bulldogs. Joyce has averaged 36 minutes of the court in her last four and is second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game. She had her first double-double last week against Illinois Springfield with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She has taken 249 shots and is first on the team in steals with 28.
Gracie Neff has started the last 18 games and leads the team in assists with 111. Neff is fifth in overall assists per game in the conference at 4.3 and fourth in the assist/turnover ratio at 1.6. In conference-only stats, Neff is second in assists at 4.7 per night. Her single-game high points this season is 13 against Drury.
Maddie Niemeier has scored over 200 points this season and has started the last 14 games. She has been in double-figures in eight of those 14 and is making over 50% of her shot attempts. For the season, Niemeier has averaged 7.8 points per game with 6.1 rebounds. Her single-game high is 18 points against Indianapolis and 14 rebounds against William Jewell.
Emma Bulman has played in all 26 and started 11 games this season with a single-game high of 18 points against McKendree back in November. She averages 6.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per outing. She has played in 82 career games over the past three seasons for Truman State and has 19 career blocked shots. Bulman has made 56-of-65 free throws this year at 86%.
Freshman Lizzie Boehm has come off the bench 21 times this season and averages nearly 14 minutes per game. She has scored points in her last five games and her single-game high is six points against both Southwest Baptist and Indianapolis.
Theo Dean is in his fifth season at Truman State and has an 82-53 record. He is currently fourth on the all-time wins list at Truman State. Dean's teams have nearly won 65% of his GLVC games during his tenure with a 62-34 conference record. His squads are 33-17 in GLVC home games and 30-17 in conference road games.
