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Game Preview:
With Finals Week coming to a close and vacation looming, the Truman Women's Basketball team has one final exam on Saturday night as #8 and defending national champion, Emporia State comes to Pershing Arena for a 5:30 p.m. tip.
The Bulldogs gave #4 Washburn a run for their money but too much Cassie Lombardino allowed the Lady Blues to leave Kirksville with a 57-51 victory over the 'Dogs, ending their four-game winning streak. Lombardino dropped in 29 points from the post and accounted for 12 of the Lady Blues 22 made field goals.
Truman was successful in shutting down the Lady Blues outside attack, as Washburn made just two of 15 three-point attempts after entering the game making over nine a contest.
Breanna Daniels and Nicole Gloor once again provided the one-two punch for scoring with Daniels scoring 14 points and Gloor chipping in 13. Daniels leads the Bulldogs and is fourth in the conference in scoring at 15.7 points per game while Gloor is 16th overall in scoring at 12.6 per game and tied for fourth in conference only scoring at 15.5 per contest.
Amy Galey has been the motor of the team as she has averaged 34 minutes per contest and leads the team in assists with 3.9/g and rebounding at 5.3/g.
Truman has won four of their last five games and will look to match their best conference start since the 1999-2000 season with a victory. That squad opened MIAA play with a 5-1 record and earned the school's highest seed in the conference tournament with a 12-6 mark.
Jory Collins fills the shoes of Brandon Schneider as the new coach of the Lady Hornets who left for Sam Houston State following last year's Division II Championship.
Collins' top weapon is senior Alli Volkens, who was last year's Elite Eight Most Outstanding Player and leads the Hornets with 14.1 points and a conference leading 12.4 rebounds a night. In addition, Volkens leads the Lady Hornets with 3.5 blocks of their 7.4 per game average.
Emporia has won their last four games and seven of their first eight. Their last victory was last Saturday against Central Missouri by a score of 63-58 in Warrensburg. Volkens scored 18 points and recorded her sixth double-double in eight games with 11 rebounds. She averages 5.5 offensive rebounds per game.
Last Year's Recap:
Emporia State won both meetings last season and have won four straight. The Lady Hornets won 76-60 in Kirksville with a balanced scoring attack. Alli Volkens, Rachel Hanf and Jamie Augustyn all had 11 for ESU while Breanna Daniels had 16 for the Bulldogs. The difference was behind the arc as Emporia was 11-of-23 while Truman made six of their eight three-point tries.
In the first meeting a season ago, Cassondra Boston dropped in 17 points while a 16-6 run late in the first half gave the Lady Hornets the lead for good at 39-29. No Bulldog finished in double-figures while Sarah Seberger, Laura Joya, Jennifer Conway and Jenny Dorman all had eight points apiece.
Bulldog Coaching Staff:
Head Coach Michael Smith enters his third year at the helm of the Truman Women's Basketball program. Smith was 8-19 in his first season and improved by three games last year to 11-16. The Bulldogs won six of their first 10 games and four of their last five in 2009-10.
Smith took over the program in April of 2008 and was previously the assistant coach at Division I University of Arkansas-Little Rock.
Joining Smith in her first year on the Truman bench is Lora Westling as the new assistant coach. Westling was a two-time all-MIAA performer and helped Washburn University to the 2005 Division II National Title. She served the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Bulldog Tip-Ins:
- Truman is first in the conference overall statistics in field goal percentage (42.8%), defensive three-point field goal percentage (25.4%) and tied for first in free throw percentage (75.0%).
- The Bulldogs are second in rebounding defense at 32.3/g.
- Truman is last in the conference in steals per game (4.3) and turnover margin (-6.1).
- In conference only statistics, the Bulldogs are first in scoring defense (56.5), field goal percentage (44.0%), defensive three-point field goal percentage (22.2%), rebounding defense (28.3/g) and rebounding margin (+11.2).
- Breanna Daniels is ranked in five overall MIAA stat catagories. She is fourth in scoring (15.7), eight in field goal percentage (39.2%), seventh in three-point field goal percentage (36.8%), tied for eighth in three-pointers made (2.0/g) and fourth in minutes played at 34.4. In conference only stats, Daniels is 12th in scoring (13.8), 10th in field goal percentage (36.1%) and ninth in minutes played (34.2).
- Nicole Gloor is 16th in overall scoring (12.6) and tied for fourth in conference only scoring (15.5). She is the top freshman scorer in the MIAA. She is sixth overall in free throw shooting (77.4%) and third in conference games in field goal percentage (56.4%).
- Amy Galey is sixth in assists per game at 3.9 and third in minutes played at 34.6. In conference games, Galey is 10th in defensive rebounds at 5.3 per game.
- Jennifer Conway is ninth in blocks per game at 1.3.
- The Bulldogs have the highest single-game field goal percentage so far this season. Truman sho 60.9% (28-of-26) against Southwest Baptist on Dec. 7th. Truman also registered the best three-point shooting by percentage that game with a five of eight performance for 62.5%.
· Truman is averaging 61.3 points per game, last season the Bulldogs averaged 61.6.
· Other key stat comparisons from this year to last year include:
o FG% .428 from .403
o 3FG% .317 from .356
o FT% .750 from .779
· Breanna Daniels leads the team with seven 10-point plus games this season and has 39 for her career. She is the active leading scorer with 696 points.
· Truman is shooting 75% from the foul line overall and 79% in the final five minutes of games.
Up Next:
The new NCAA Division II Initiative called “Life In The Balance” takes affect this season so no games will be played from Dec. 19 until Dec. 29. The initiative calls for no activity (practice or games) starting on December 20 through December 26 (a seven-day period).
Truman will be back in action with a non-conference game on Dec. 29 on the road against the University of Illinois-Springfield. The Bulldogs defeated the Prairie Stars 69-62 in Kirksville last season.
Due to the current construction project going on in the Pershing Building, no admission will be charged for either game.
