KIRKSVILLE, Mo. –  The Truman State Women's Basketball team will embark on a Kansas City swing as the Bulldogs look to push upward in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings. Rockhurst will be the opponent on Thursday night at 5:15 p.m. followed by William Jewell on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
All three teams find themselves in the same boat in terms of the league standings. Truman State is 4-6 in conference play while the Hawks and Cardinals are both sitting at 3-8. The first release of the GLVC Points Ratings System rankings will be unveiled on Saturday night and will give a snapshot of where the schools are at in terms of the top eight for a conference tournament spot.
 
The GLVC PSR is based on the strength of wins and losses in conference games. Teams earn points based on the location and the opponents winning percentage with those points averaged at the end of the season to determine the top eight teams and their seeds. The most points earned in a game is seven against a team on the road that has a .750 or above winning percentage at the end of the season. A team earns no points if it loses at home to a team below a .250 winning percentage.
 
It will be the second of two meetings with Rockhurst as Truman State used a strong third quarter to pull away from the Hawks for an 82-64 win back on November 30^th. The Bulldogs outpaced the Hawks 24-11 in the third and turned a four-point advantage at half into a 17-point spread heading into the final 10 minutes.  Jordan Cunningham scored a game-high 25 points for the Bulldogs on 10-of-15 shooting and added 10 rebounds. Lexie White also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards and Molly Joyce dropped in 18 points.
 
Rockhurst was led by Rebeca Garcia with 19 followed by Keegan Sullivan with 14 and Chloe Frank with 12.
 
The Hawks have taken the last three against the Bulldogs played in Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse. They won 88-67 last January and 53-44 in February of 2023. Truman State holds a slim 9-7 advantage in games played in KC.
 
On Saturday, the Bulldogs will head up Interstate 35 to Liberty for the first of two meetings with William Jewell. Truman State overtook the Cardinals in the final two minutes of their only matchup last season and won 61-58 to extend their winning streak over William Jewell to nine straight games. Emma Bulman had a strong game for Truman State with 14 points including seven of seven from the free throw line.
 
Truman and William Jewell will wrap up the regular season in Pershing Arena on March 1^st in the return encounter.
 
Truman is coming off an 82-69 loss to Quincy on Saturday. The Bulldogs grabbed a two-point lead at 37-35 a minute into the third quarter but watched as the Hawks went on a 16-0 run over the next five minutes to go up 51-37. Truman got it to within six points at 63-57 following a three-pointer by Bryar Duwe with under seven minutes left to play but the Hawks went on another burst to push the margin back to 10 points and never looked back.
 
Jordan Cunningham was held to her second-lowest point total of the season with six points but Lexie White and Bryar Duwe picked up the slack with each scoring their single-game highs. White scored 16 points on three made three-pointers and Duwe knocked in four triples on her way to 14 points.
 
Cunningham dropped to fifth in overall scoring among conference players at 17.3 points per game and is second in GLVC games at 20.3 points. She trails Mia Huberty of Upper Iowa in the conference-only scoring race as Huberty is averaging 20.5 points per night.
 
Cunningham has been the Bulldogs leading scorer in 10 games this season and is tied for the league-lead with eight games of 20 or more points. Her single-game high this year is 29 against Upper Iowa.
 
Molly Joyce has the Bulldogs top scoring game and has two 30-point scoring performances this season. Joyce tallied 34 points against Urusline (Ohio) and 30 against Arkansas Fort Smith to be one of four GLVC players to hit 30 points in a game this season. She is averaging 13.4 points overall but in league games that average has dipped to 9.4 points. She has 19 steals in 10 conference games and along with Cunningham is on the floor over 30 minutes per game.
 
White edged past Joyce in conference scoring this past Saturday and averages 9.7 per game. She has made 12-of-32 three-point attempts and is shooting over 90% from the free-throw line in GLVC play. She had 12 blocked shots on the season with seven in conference. As mentioned above, White is coming off her single-game scoring high of 16 at Quincy and has two double-doubles this season.
 
Duwe has tied for the team lead in three-pointers made with 28 this season. She has made 12 in the 10 conference games and has been a steady eight points per night this season while starting all 20 games. She is also coming off her single-game high in points with 14 at Quincy.
 
Katelyn Odem has started the past seven conference games and has averaged 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10 total league games. She scored a single-game high of 13 points against Hawaii-Hilo.
 
Tori Standefer has been a valuable contributor with double-figure games in her last three outings. She went 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in last week's games and was also a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line. For the season, Standefer has played in 12 games with a 4.7 points per game mark.
 
Emma Bulman, Gracie Neff and Tori Standefer have come off the bench in all 10 conference games. All three are averaging around 15 minutes each per game. Bulman has played in 104 games at Truman State and has averaged 4.5 points per outing with 38 three-pointers made. Her single-game high is 18 coming 2023 against McKendree.
 
Neff has appeared in 78 games at Truman and 123 overall after her first two seasons at Lindenwood. She had 366 total assists with 203 coming as a Bulldog. Her game high in points is 13 against Drury in 2024.
 
Standefer has found her stride with the Bulldogs after spending the previous three seasons at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has made 7-of-16 three-pointers in conference games this season and has also made 13-of-16 free throw attempts. Her career high was 14 points against Lincoln on January 20^th.
 
Head Coach Theo Dean is in his sixth season at the helm of the Bulldogs and has won 89 games, third most by a coach for the purple and white. His teams have a 66-42 GLVC record and are 31-23 in conference road games.
 
Up Next:
Truman State returns to their Thursday/Saturday routine with road games at Rockhurst on January 30 and at William Jewell on February 1^st. The Bulldogs won round one against Rockhurst 82-64 on November 30^th while this will be the first of two scheduled encounters with William Jewell.