KIRKSVILLE, Mo. –  With eight Great Lakes Valley Conference games remaining on the schedule, the Truman State Women's Basketball team will be at home for five of those games beginning on Thursday night when they host Drury (Mo.) University.
 
The Bulldogs are winners of their last two games and four of their last five as the road to March begins in earnest. The GLVC released the first set of their points rating system to determine the top eight spots for the league's postseason tournament on Saturday night and the Bulldogs will have some work to do to qualify for the event. Truman is sitting ninth in the PSR with a 3.00 average ranking while just ahead in the eighth spot is McKendree with a 3.19 average.
 
Truman State's signature win in the conference rankings came against the current number one team in the league, Lewis University that began this current five-game span. The Bulldogs will be looking for another "high-value" win when Drury comes rolling in on Thursday night. The Lady Panthers are second in the PSR and have an 11-2 conference record.
 
The two teams met back in December and Drury pulled away for a commanding 97-72 victory. That loss sent the Bulldogs on a bit of a tailspin as they would go on to drop the next six games. Drury had four players in double-figures back on December 7^th knocked down 12 three-pointers, and won the glass by 15 extra rebounds resulting in a 23-9 spread in second chance points.
 
Jordan Cunningham led with 23 points for the Bulldogs and Lexie White added 15. Katelyn Odem scored 11 after having to take over for Mallory Ott just minutes into the game. The Bulldogs were six of 23 from outside during the game.
 
Cunningham continued her scoring roll and sits atop the GLVC scoring race in league games this season. She averaged 18 points in two road wins last week, including a 23-point effort against William Jewell on Saturday. That was her ninth 20-point game of the season which leads all of the GLVC players and is averaging a league-best 19.9 points in conference games.
 
Cunningham also notched her second double-double of the season on Saturday by pulling down 10 rebounds. For the season, she leads the team in scoring at 17.3 points, rebounds at 5.0, assists at 2.9, blocks with 21 and minutes at 33.9.  Her top scoring game has been 29 against Upper Iowa on January 16.
 
Molly Joyce had a productive road trip with 18 points against Rockhurst last Thursday and 14 against William Jewell. The 18-point effort were the most in a single-game in seven outings and has pushed her scoring average back up to 13.6 per night. Joyce made a pair of three-pointers in each game last week breaking a 10-game span in which she made more than one three just once. Joyce still leads the squad in three-pointers made with 32 on the season and in attempts with 114. She holds two 30-point scoring games this season with a high of 34 in the season opening weekend against Ursuline (Ohio).
 
Bryar Duwe and Lexie White continue to be key pieces of the Bulldog starting five. Duwe is second in three-pointers made with 30 this season and has averaged 8.5 points overall and 7.9 in conference games. Her single game high is 14 points at Quincy on January 25.
 
White averages 8.5 in league and 7.5 overall. She has made 13-of-35 three-point attempts and is shooting over 90% from the free-throw line in GLVC play. She had 14 blocked shots on the season with nine in conference. White's single-game scoring high is 16 at Quincy and has two double-doubles this season.
 
Katelyn Odem has started the past nine conference games and has averaged 5.4 points and 2.1 rebounds in 12 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 four of her last six outings. She set a new career high with 15 points at Rockhurst while going 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
 
Standefer, Emma Bulman, and Gracie Neff  have each come off the bench in all 12 conference games. All three are averaging around 15 minutes each per game. Bulman has played in 106 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 80 games at Truman and 125 overall after her first two seasons at Lindenwood. She had 376 total assists with 213 coming as a Bulldog. Her game high in points is 13 against Drury in 2024.
 
Head Coach Theo Dean is in his sixth season at the helm of the Bulldogs and has won 91 games, third most by a coach for the purple and white. His teams have a 68-42 GLVC record and are 36-19 in conference road games.
 
Following Thursday's game, the Bulldogs will welcome Southwest Baptist (Mo.) to Pershing Arena on Saturday afternoon. In their previous meeting in December in Bolivar, the Bulldogs went to the free throw line 38 times and outscored the Bearcats 29-11 from the stripe in a 77-63 win over the Bearcats. Cunningham tallied 27 points while Tori Hamilton led SBU with 16.
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs return to the road with trips to Jefferson City and Roll, Missouri next Thursday and Saturday. They will look for the season sweep over the Lincoln Blue Tigers after and earlier 78-59 win on January 20 and hope to avenge  a 74-72 loss to Missouri S&T that took place on January 3^rd.