Notes: Women Face Grand View Before Starting GLVC Play

2013-14 Truman Women's Basketball Game Notes:
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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Women's Basketball team will play their first Great Lakes Valley Conference game when they travel to Quincy (Ill.) University on Saturday for a 5:15 p.m. start against the Lady Hawks. Prior to that, Truman will host Grand View (Iowa) for a non-conference tilt on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.

Game Coverage
Wednesday's game can be found on the radio dial at 99.9 FM while Saturday's contest will be heard on 104.7 FM. Both games will also be available online via CentralMoInfo.com. Brad Boyer will handle the play-by-play duties with a pregame show beginning 15 minutes prior to tip.

Live stats and live video links, if available from the host site, will be available off the women's basketball schedule page on TrumanBulldogs.com

This Week's Schedule:
Truman will return to the court after an eight-day layoff when they host the Grand View (Iowa) University Vikings on Wednesday night. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 1984 season with the Vikings winning three of the four contests. Truman's lone win in the series came in the 1982 season opener when they won 89-75. The Vikings wins came 75-72 in 1980, 77-59 in 1981 and 81-64 in 1984. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Pershing Arena in Kirksville.

The Bulldogs will then embark on their new GLVC schedule with a road game at rival Quincy University on Saturday evening. Truman has won the last two meetings over the Lady Hawks, including last season's 62-52 victory in Pepsi Arena. Overall, Quincy is 22-18 over the Bulldogs, their closest cohort in the GLVC. The Lady Hawks were picked to win the GLVC West Division with 11 first-place votes after going 14-13 overall and 12-6 in the conference. Tip-off from Pepsi Arena on the QU campus is slated for 5:15 p.m.

About the Bulldogs (5-1; 0-0 GLVC)
The Bulldogs wrapped up the month of November with a 5-1 record and have posted a 16-1 mark during the first month of the season over the past three years. The team won their 18th straight home game dating back to 2011 with an 82-54 victory over Hannibal-LaGrange on November 26. Four players scored in double-figures with Nicole Gloor leading the way with 16 points off the bench, including six straight within a 45 second span to give Truman the lead for good.

Four Bulldogs have averaged over 10 points per game through the first six with junior guard Allie Norton leading the way at 13.2 points per game, seniors guard Amy Briggs (12.5 ppg), senior forwards Bianca Szafarowicz (11.3 ppg) and Gloor (10.2 ppg) round out the group. Szafarowicz paces the team in rebounding at 6.2 per game and Truman as a whole averages 45.3 rebounds per game and pulls down, on average 14 more boards against their opponents.

Truman is averaging nearly 85 points per game while allowing just over 60. They are shooting 43% from the floor with 38% from beyond the arc and 76% from the foul line. Opponents are shooting 38% overall, 32% from three and 74% from the stripe. The Bulldogs have forced 35 more turnovers this season and average 18.8 opponent turnovers per game.

Triple Threat
The Bulldogs led all three NCAA Divisions in three-point shooting last season. Truman set a season record with202 treys and shot 41.6% from the arc last year to lead Duke (40.5%), Penn State (39.2%) and Northwest-St. Paul (39.2%) in three-point shooting.

Truman's previous record in three-point shooting was 39% in 1989-90 and 199 triples during the 2007-08 season.

This season, Truman is shooting 38.3% from outside through the first six games going 49-of-128.

Allie Norton is sixth on the Truman career three-pointers made list with 144. She is one away from fifth place held by Breanna Daniels and five from Susan Theroff's fourth position. Norton is the career leader in three-point field goal percentage with a minimum of 50 made with a 41.9% rate. The next closest Bulldog is Nicci Hays, who made 40.7% of her three-pointers.

Early Season Trends:
Though early in the season, Truman's 84.5 points per game is the highest scoring mark in school history. The Bulldogs have averaged over 80 points for a season three other times, 1998-99 (81.0), 1990-91 (81.9) and 1989-90 (84.4). Last season, Truman averaged 68.5 points per game.

The Bulldogs lead the GLVC in rebounding margin (+13.8) and offensive rebounds per game at 18.5. They are second in three-pointers made per game at 8.2.

The bench is averaging 33.2 points per game while Truman is also averaging 22.5 points per game off of turnovers and 18.2 points per game in second chance points.

Allie Norton has the team's single-game point high of 25 against Stephens (Mo.). Amy Briggs has a pair of 21 point games and Kasey Gassensmith also has a 20-point performance (22 vs. Stephens).

Truman has had as many as five players in double-figures in scoring in three of the six games and no fewer than three players cracking over 10 points per game.

In the last two games, Truman has converted on 47-of-57 free throw attempts (82.4%).

Season Highlights:

Senior Bianca Szfarowicz recorded the first of two double-doubles of the season in Truman's 101-27 victory over Stephens (Mo.) on November 11. Szafarowicz had a career-high 18 points to go along with 10 rebounds. She also tied for the sixth best steal performance against the Stars with seven and added a career high four assists. Szafarowic's second double-double came with 15 points and 11 boards against Grand Valley State on November 22.
Sophomore Kasey Gassensmith had the fourth best single-game shooting percentage against Stephens College on November 11. Gassensmith was 9-of-11 (81.8%) from the field for a career-high 22 points against the Stars. It was the highest field goal percentage with a minimum of eight made since Nicole Gloor went 9-of-11 against Southwest Baptist in 2010.
The 74-point win over Stephens was the most by the team since an 82-point win (102-20) over Central Christian (Mo.) in 2007. The team had the second most field goal attempts all-time with 88, tied eighth most three-pointers made with 12, third most rebounds in a game with 62, eighth most assists with 26 and seventh most steals with 17.
Truman's 91-71 win over Northwest Missouri on November 16 broke a 10-year, 10-game losing streak in Bearcat Arena. The Bulldogs last win in Maryville was a 74-72 victory on February 5, 2003 and it was the largest margin of victory over Northwest on their home court since an 89-66 win on January 16, 1999.
The Bulldogs won their 24th consecutive game over Lincoln (Mo.) when they defeated the Blue Tigers 83-60 on November 17. Truman owns a 47-14 all-time series lead over Lincoln and have not lost to the Blue Tigers since 1998.
Truman split a pair of games at the Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) tournament. The Bulldogs fell 81-68 to Grand Valley (Mich.) State in the opener but bounced host Trevecca Nazarene 82-70 the next day.
The team won their 18th straight home game with a 82-54 win over Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The Bulldogs were 18-of-19 from the foul line, good for a 94.7% which was the seventh best single-game free throw percentage all-time.

New Kids On The Block:
The Bulldogs enter their first year of GLVC play after spending the past 31 seasons in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Truman was 161-351 (.314) in the MIAA but had posted a 33-27 record the past two years.

Truman is the newest school of the 16-team league that is celebrating its 35th anniversary as a conference.
Former member Northern Kentucky has won the most GLVC championships with eight followed by current members, Lewis (Ill.) Southern Indiana and Saint Joseph's with five apiece.

The Flyers of Lewis defeated the West Division champions, Maryville (Mo.) to capture last season's GLVC title 76-61.

GLVC Preseason Poll:
Truman was picked fourth in the West Division of the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 73 points and one first-place vote.

Quincy (Ill.) garnered 11 first-place votes and 112 overall to sit atop the division in the poll followed by Maryville (Mo.) and Missouri S&T. Lewis (Ill.) grabbed 11 first-place votes to lead the East Division followed by the University of Indianapolis.

The Bulldogs open GLVC play on December 7 at Quincy (Ill.) and will play 18 league games. They will play home-and-home games with Quincy, Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville while single-games against everyone else in the league.

Scouting the Opponents:
Grand View has bounced back with three straight victories to even their record to 4-4 after losing four of their first five games. They defeated Buena Vista (Iowa) 84-60 on November 29 and are led in scoring by Mika Rodewald at 11.5 points per game.

The Vikings shoot 45% from the field but have only made 22 of 73 (30.1%) of their three-point attempts with Chelsie Krull hitting 15 of the teams treys.

Grand View was 22-7 last year and a participant in the NAIA Championships,falling in the second reound to Indiana Wesleyan University.

Garey Smith is in his 13th season at Grand View and spent 18 years at William Penn. He is a member of the Missouri High School Coaches Hall of Fame after leading Fairfax to the 1980 state championship. The Vikings advanced to the NAIA Elite Eight in 2010 under Smith.

The 4-0 Quincy Lady Hawks will have their tune-up before conference play by hosting Hannibal-LaGrange on Tuesday. The Lady Hawks have defeated three Division II schools in Northwest Missouri 68-47, Northwood (Mich.) 74-63 and Pittsburg State (Kan.) 80-59.

Lucy Cramsey leads the Lady Hawks in scoring at 13.3 points and rebounding at 7.8 boards per game. Tori Kuhn is the GLVC's top shooter at 75% making 15 of her first 20 shots from the floor. Maggie Cunningham is the top stealer in the league at 3.5 per game.

Jeni Garber returns for her third season at Quincy. Garber led the Lady Hawks to a 22-8 and GLVC West Division title in her first season while got the Lady Hawks back on track after starting the 2012-13 season at 1-6, Quincy won 13 of their last 19 games to finish 14-13.

Up Next:
Truman plays just three games in the month of December and will be off following the Quincy game until December 18 when the team travels to former MIAA foe Pittsburg State for the final non-conference game of the year.

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