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Game Preview:
Having wrapped up its first conference tournament berth in three seasons, the Truman women's basketball team will be playing for seeding and their seniors as the University of Central Missouri Jennies visit Pershing Arena on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. tip off.
The field of eight teams for Kansas City was set on Wednesday night when the Bulldogs defeated Lincoln University 68-44 and Pittsburg State eliminated Fort Hays State 70-56. The winner of Saturday's game will get to avoid the MIAA champion Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in the opening round of the conference tournament next Friday. A win by the Bulldogs will set up a game against second-seeded Washburn in the first round while a win by the Jennies would propel them to sixth by virtue of tie-breaks and could play a slew of teams that could be third, but most likely Emporia State.
In the first meeting between the Jennies and Bulldogs back on a snowy Jan. 19th, it was all UCM for the first 28 minutes of play. The Jennies built up an 18-point lead only to have it slip away in the final 10 minutes of the game by big nights from Becka McHenry and Amy Galey.
McHenry scored a career high 22 points with Galey adding 16 as Truman rallied to win in overtime 78-74. It was the largest comeback by a Bulldog team in conference play since a 1994 game with Southwest Baptist University. McHenry scored at the buzzer to send the game to overtime then scored six straight points in the overtime as the Bulldogs went on a 13-0 run in the extra period. Renae Shippy scored a career-high 18 points for the Jennies as she connected on four of six three-point attempts. Kara Fleming notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 assists.
Last Game (Truman):
The Bulldogs once again got big production from their bench as they were able to use their man-advantage to down the Lincoln Blue Tigers on Wednesday night 68-44. The score was tied at 27 at the break but Jenny Dorman and Malorie Kiecker made all of Truman's six three-pointers as the Bulldogs pasted the Blue Tigers in the second half 41-17. Lincoln played just five players in the game with Vivian Essuon notching a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Jennifer Conway led Truman with 15 points while Dorman set Truman career highs with 14 points (4-of-6 from three) and five rebounds.
Last Game (Central Missouri):
Like Truman, Central used a big second half to pull away from Missouri Western on their senior night in Warrensburg on Wednesday. The Jennies outscored the Griffons 43-26 in the final 20 minutes to record an 80-58 victory and a season sweep over Missouri Western. Kara Fleming led four Jennies in double-figures with 17 points while Rebecca Roberts added 13, Erin Redmond scored 13 and Nicole Caddell came off the bench to pour in 11.
A Look At The Playoff Picture:
The only remaining factors for the MIAA tournament next weekend in Kansas City are the match-ups as all eight spots have been secured prior to the final regular season game on Saturday. Northwest Missouri clinched the top seed and their first outright regular season conference championship on Wednesday at home against Southwest Baptist and Washburn is locked into the number two spot with a 16-5 league mark.
Spots three through five will be determined by about a dozen tie-breaking scenarios between Emporia State, Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State. Those three teams are separated by just one game. The most likely scenario based on Saturday's match-ups would have Emporia as three (if they beat Fort Hays State at home), Pittsburg State as four (if they beat Nebraska-Omaha at home) and Missouri Southern at five (if they lose at home to Northwest Missouri). Regardless, if Emporia wins they are three and Southern and Pitt will play each other in the first round.
Central and Missouri Western are tied for sixth but if Truman knocks off the Jennies on Saturday the Bulldogs would get the seventh spot by virtue of their season sweep over Central while Western would get sixth (if they win at Southwest Baptist or if they lose would hold season sweep over the Bulldogs). If Central wins and Western wins, the Jennies would move up to sixth with their sweep over the Griffons while the Bulldogs would finish no better than eighth.
Truman To Honor Seniors:
Three seniors, Amy Galey, Cassie Hunt and Malorie Kiecker will be honored prior to tip off on Saturday.
Senior guard Amy Galey is among the conference leaders in assists at 4.2 per game and has the team's best three-point shooting percentage but not enough attempts to qualify for any rankings. Galey has made 20-of-54 triples for a 37% mark while also pulling down 4.2 rebounds per game. She is third in the conference in minutes played per game at 33.7. Galey has been a staple in the Bulldog starting line-up as she has started all 52 games of her Bulldog career. She set her Truman career high in points with 16 earlier this season against Central Missouri and became the first Bulldog to record 10 assists in a game since Amy Eagan in 1998 with 10 at Nebraska-Omaha.
Senior Malorie Kiecker has made one start in 19 games this season. She went over 500 career points with a season-high eight on Wednesday night against Lincoln University. For her career, she has played in 86 games and has averaged 6.2 points per game. She is the only four-year player for the Bulldogs on the roster. Kiecker scored a career-high 20 points in a game against Emporia State in 2008 while also setting career benchmarks in rebounds (11) and assists (7) during her sophomore season.
Senior Cassie Hunt averaged three points per game and nearly two rebounds before leaving a game on Jan. 8th against Northwest Missouri with an injury. Hunt was shooting 60% from the field in just over five minutes per game with a Truman career high of 12 points against Nova Southeastern (Fla.). She was a transfer from North Central Missouri College.
Truman Upcoming Milestones:
Amy Galey has eclipsed 100 assists on the season and sits at 104, 15 short of her total from last season, she is 10 shy of breaking into the Truman single-season top 10 in assists for the second straight year.
Galey is tied for 10th all-time with Cathy Minor (1977-81) with 223 career assists and with three on Saturday can tie ninth place Denise Stone (1977-81).
Breanna Daniels just passed 900 career points (917) and is 22 away from matching her single-season high. Daniels scored 353 points last season in 27 games while this season only 26 regular season games will be played.
Senior Malorie Kiecker eclipsed 500 points (502) for her career with a season-high eight against Lincoln on Wednesday night. She is the Bulldogs only four-year player on the roster.
About the Bulldogs:
Junior forward Breanna Daniels leads the Bulldogs with a 13.2 points per game mark. Daniels leads Truman in shots taken with 350 this season, three-pointers made and attempted with 45 out of 134 and shoots 72% from the foul line.
Daniels has the high point mark of the season for the Bulldogs with 26 in the second game of the season against Nova-Southeastern (Fla.). She has been in double-figures in scoring in 23 of the 25 games, 54 for her career and the team's scoring leader in 14.
Daniels was selected as a third-team Capital One Academic All-District selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Sophomore guard Becka McHenry third in shots taken with 211 this season and is averaging 8.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while starting 21 of 25 games. She is shooting 41.7% from the field and averages 25.6 minutes per game. McHenry scored a career-high 22 in the Bulldogs thrilling comeback against the University of Central Missouri on Jan. 19.
Sophomore Jennifer Conway is the team's leading rebounder at 6.0 per game and has 24 blocked shots. She set a career high with 14 rebounds against both Northwest and Nebraska-Omaha and set a new high mark in points scored with 17 twice in a week against Fort Hays and UNO. Since Dec. 29th, Conway has more than doubled her points per game average to 8.8 and is second in shots taken with 233.
Sophomore Megan Sharpe is third on the team in offensive rebounds with 44 despite playing in five fewer games due to her being a two-time All-American for the Bulldog Volleyball program and missing two with an injury. Sharpe is shooting 53% from the field in 17.2 minutes per game and while making starts in seven games.
Sophomore Jenny Dorman has come off the bench in 20 games this season and knocked down 14 of her 32 three-point shots. She set a Truman high with 14 points, going 4-for-6 from beyond the arc against Lincoln on Feb 23.
Bulldog Newcomers:
Freshman Nicole Gloor is second on the team in scoring at 9.2 points per game while shooting 50.9% from the field. Gloor has 13 double-digit games this season including a season-high 22 against Maryville University during non-conference play. Gloor leads the team in free throw attempts with 71 trips to the line making 51 for a 71.8% mark.
Freshman Kayla Klopfenstein has appeared in 21 games this season and started three. She has scored a season-high six points in both the season opener against Barry University (Fla.) and against Lincoln University. Eight of her 10 made field goals have been from behind the arc.
Freshman Kaitlin Stump has played in 12 games this season for the Bulldogs and has just four points in 40 minutes. Stump logged a season-high nine minutes in a Bulldog non-conference victory over Maryville University and had a key five minute span as the Bulldogs railed for 13 down against Lincoln University on Jan. 15th.
Freshman Bianca Szafarowicz has appeared in all 25 games and averages just over 16 minutes per game while making 16 starts. Szafarowicz tallied season highs in both points and rebounding against Southwest Baptist on Feb. 5th. She scored 12 points and had eight rebounds with three assists against the Bearcats. Szafarowicz shoots 44.3% from the field.
Bulldogs At Home:
The women are 4-5 in games played in Pershing Arena this season. Breanna Daniels leads the team with 14.0 points per game and Nicole Gloor adding 10.3 a contest. Jennifer Conway averages 6.6 rebounds a game and as a team, Truman is a plus 3.4 in rebounding margin.
Shooting, the Bulldogs shoot 37% from the field in home games and 35% beyond the arc.
Bulldog Tip-Ins:
In conference only statistics, the Bulldogs are third in scoring defense (62.0), and first in rebounding defense (34.5/g). They are also third in offensive rebounds (13.9/g).
The Bulldogs have the highest single-game field goal percentage so far this season. Truman shot 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 has posted the most field goal attempts than any team in the MIAA in a single game with 87 against Northwest Missouri and also the most rebounds by a conference team this season with 60 against the Bearcats, 27 on the offensive end.
Truman is averaging 62.0 points per game, last season the Bulldogs averaged 61.6.
Other key stat comparisons from this year to last year include:
o FG% .407 from .403
o 3FG% .325 from .356
o FT% .686 from .779
Breanna Daniels leads the team with 23, 10-point plus games this season and has 54 for her career. She is the active leading scorer with 917 points and has been the team's leading scorer in 14 of the 25 games.
Eight different Bulldogs have been single-game leaders in rebounding with Jennifer Conway leading the way with 10 games with the most boards.
Three Bulldogs have recorded double-doubles this season with five coming from Jennifer Conway and one apiece from Amy Galey and Megan Sharpe. Galey's was the only one that was for 10 assists and not rebounds.
The Bulldog bench has averaged nearly 21 points per game compared to the opposion's 14.1 per game. Eight points by the bench against Pitts State was a season low while the season high was 50 against Maryville and 33 against Missouri Southern in conference.
Up Next:
The Kansas City-bound Bulldogs will return to downtown Municipal Auditorium for the first time since 2008 as they will play in the MIAA postseason tournament on Friday. Truman will either be the eighth seed or seventh seed depending on Saturday's outcome which means either a noon start against top-seeded Northwest or a 6:00 p.m. start against second seed Washburn. In addition, the MIAA all-conference team will be announced next week.
