LIBERTY, Mo. — Truman State's women's basketball team survived a furious second-half comeback attempt by William Jewell College on Saturday afternoon, holding on for a 60-55 victory at the Mabee Center. The Bulldogs (17-11, 14-6 MIAA) built a commanding 19-point advantage in the third quarter before the Cardinals (1-25, 1-19 MIAA) trimmed the deficit to five in the final seconds, but Truman State made enough plays down the stretch to secure the win. With the victory, Truman State finalized their position as the six seed in the GLVC tournament.
The Bulldogs wasted no time imposing their will in the opening quarter. After Lexie White drew a foul and converted both free throws to give Truman an early 2-0 lead, the Cardinals answered with a pair of baskets to briefly knot the game before McCallop's turnaround jumper put the Bulldogs back in front at 4-2. William Jewell responded to tie it again at 7-7, then briefly reclaimed the lead before McCallop pushed Truman back in front at 9-7. The Bulldogs then closed the quarter on a decisive run — Neylan Vila Delicado came up with a steal that led to a Rogers fast-break layup, White hit a pair of free throws off a foul drawn in transition, and Rausch converted a fast-break layup plus the free throw after a Peterson turnover to extend the lead. By the end of the first, Truman held a 16-11 advantage.
The second quarter was all Bulldogs. Truman State exploded for 17 points while holding William Jewell to just six, pushing the lead to as many as 16 points by end of the half. Odem opened the scoring with a fast-break basket off an Anderson turnover to make it 11-18. McCallop continued to apply pressure, and Rausch knocked down a pair of free throws to push the margin to 11 at 13-24. The killer blow came at the 4:08 mark — after a William Jewell backcourt violation, McCallop drilled a three-pointer off a Rogers assist to make it 13-27. Komaszynska converted a turnaround in the paint to make it 15-27, but Miller answered immediately with a three off a Rausch assist at the 2:52 mark, restoring a 15-point edge at 15-30. Taryn Jacobs hit a layup for the Cardinals, but Odem knocked in a corner three off a Chambers assist with under a minute left to push it to 17-33, and Truman carried that 16-point advantage into halftime.
William Jewell showed fight in the third quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 18-14 and steadily chipping away. However, Truman extended its biggest lead of the game early in the period — Odem hit a three to push it to 17-36 with 9:15 remaining, and after Ott went to the line and made both free throws, the lead stood at 19 points, the game's largest margin. The Cardinals began their comeback from there, getting contributions from multiple players across several possessions to cut into the deficit. Peterson converted a three-pointer off a Thompson assist at 3:46 that trimmed it to 31-42, and after Peterson added a tip-in, Jacobs knocked down both free throws to bring William Jewell within seven at 35-42. The Bulldogs answered to close the quarter: McCallop hit a pull-up jumper, Odem made one of two free throws, and Ott tipped in a missed Rogers attempt in the final seconds to push the lead back to 12 at 47-35 entering the fourth.
The Cardinals made their push in the fourth quarter, outscoring Truman 20-13. Komaszynska was relentless inside early, converting two consecutive pull-up jumpers in the paint to trim the deficit to eight at 39-47. After Jacobs hit a free throw and White buried a three for Truman at 6:32 to push the lead back to 10 at 40-50, Jacobs responded with a turnaround in the paint to make it 42-50. Rausch hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to eight at 44-52, but Price drilled a three to cut it to five at 47-52 with 2:39 remaining. Truman answered when White converted a layup at 1:42 to push the lead to seven, but Price connected on another three with 14 seconds left to make it 50-58, setting up a frantic finish. After Rogers hit two free throws off a foul, Jacobs converted a layup at the buzzer to make the final 55-60, but it was not enough as Truman State escaped with the five-point victory.
TEAM STATISTICS
| Category |
Truman State |
William Jewell |
| Final Score |
60 |
55 |
| FG (M-A) |
16-53 |
21-52 |
| FG% |
30.2% |
40.4% |
| 3PT (M-A) |
7-27 |
5-23 |
| 3PT% |
25.9% |
21.7% |
| FT (M-A) |
21-25 |
8-10 |
| FT% |
84.0% |
80.0% |
| Rebounds |
32 |
38 |
| Assists |
9 |
9 |
| Steals |
11 |
7 |
| Turnovers |
12 |
19 |
| Points in Paint |
12 |
30 |
| Fast Break Points |
16 |
0 |
| Bench Points |
16 |
5 |
| Second Chance Pts |
4 |
6 |
TRUMAN STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Scoring
Rebounds
Assists
Steals
Up Next:
Truman State will be the #6 seed for the GLVC tournament this week in the Mark Twain Building in St. Louis, Mo. The quarterfinal matchup will be against the Drury Panthers. The two teams faced off twice this year already with Drury winning both matchups. The first game occurred in Kirksville back on December 4th when the Panthers won 67-63. The more recent game took place in Springfield with the Panthers winning 88-76.
During his recent appearance on Reigning Cats & Dogs, Coach
Theo Dean emphasized how his team was ready for whatever seed they fell into and looked forward to the opportunity to try to knock off teams that the Bulldogs fell to earlier in the season with the team finding it's footing in the new year. The Bulldogs hold a 10-7 record since January 1st and will start their GLVC tournament journey on Friday at 2:15 PM. Click here for the GLVC
Tournament Central.
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