Game Notes: 'Dogs & 'Cats To Clash In Conference Tourney Opener

Truman Women's Basketball Tuesday, March 5 vs. Southwest Baptist (Kirksville, Mo. 7:00 PM)
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Game Preview:
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The fifth seeded Truman Women's Basketball team will host the 12th seeded Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University Bearcats in the first round of the MIAA postseason tournament on Tuesday night in Pershing Arena. All Truman students that arrive prior to the 7:00 p.m. tip time will have their admission paid for by the Truman Athletics Department.

The Bulldogs (19-7; 12-6 MIAA) were seeded fifth based on their head-to-head victory over Fort Hays (Kan.) State earlier this season. Both teams finished 12-6 in the league, one game behind fourth seeded Emporia (Kan.) State. The winner of the Truman/Southwest Baptist game will face the Lady Hornets in Kansas City on Friday afternoon at 2:15 p.m.

Truman dropped a pair of games last week by two 58-56 to #13 Central Missouri and had a 72-65 loss to Northwest Missouri on Saturday. Both games were on the road. The Bulldogs are 3-4 in their last seven games.

Southwest Baptist (11-15; 6-12 MIAA) fell to the 12th and final qualification spot by virtue of losing both games to Lincoln (Mo.) University and thus the head-to-head tie-break with the Blue Tigers. The Bearcats defeated Central Missouri last Saturday 63-52 but then lost in the regular season finale 71-64 to Missouri Western.

Truman has won six straight against the Bearcats including a 14-point road victory 64-50 on February 2 and a nine-point home win 78-68 on February 14. The Bulldogs have shot 58.6% from beyond the arc against Southwest Baptist this season making 17-of-29 shots and have shot overall 48.5%.

Allie Norton, Becka McHenry and Nicole Gloor went a combined 12-of-18 from three against SBU with Norton averaging 14.5 points, McHenry 14.0 points and Gloor 13 points. Truman has also forced 32 turnovers with 15 steals against the Bearcats this season.

Jacqui Zelenka has been the dominate force for the Bearcats against the Bulldogs this season. She has averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds in the two match-ups while Chasity Prince has added 15.5 points and four boards. SBU has shot 43% overall in the two meetings but just 29% (9-of-31) from outside after posting a season average of 33% from the arc.

Zelenka is eighth in the conference in scoring at 13.5 points and leads the MIAA in rebounding at 10.6/game. She is also ranked in field goal percentage (6th/51.3%), assists (12th/2.8), offensive rebounds (5th/2.9), defensive rebounds (1st/7.7) and minutes played (8th/31.3).

Tournament History
This is the third straight year the Truman women have qualified for the conference tournament and matches the 1998, 1999 and 2000 teams as the only other three-straight tournament appearances in school history. It is the 12th overall tournament appearance for the Bulldogs dating back to 1988 and only the second conference tournament home game in Truman history.

All tournament games were played in Kansas City from 2003 until 2012 when the format changed this year with the addition to 12 teams instead of eight. Prior to 03, the entire tournament was played on campus sites.

The Bulldogs hosted Southwest Baptist in the four/five game in 2000 with the Bearcats winning 71-62 in Pershing Arena. The two teams would meet again in the semifinals in Kansas City in 2008 with again SBU pulling out a 70-65 victory.

Truman is 2-11 in all-time MIAA conference tournament games.

Coaches:
The Bulldogs are under fifth-year head coach Michael Smith, who has an overall record of 67-67. He is fourth all-time in victories at Truman and is 44-56 in conference games. Smith was previously at Division I, Arkansas-Little Rock is a graduate of Central Methodist (Mo.) and a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State.

Second year Bearcats' coach Todd Voss is in his 19th overall season as a women's basketball coach. Voss was a five-year assistant coach for Drake (Iowa) prior to taking charge of the SBU program and served as head coach at Concordia (Neb.) University from 1999-2006 with a 36-2 record in 2002-03. Voss is 0-4 against Michael Smith and the Bulldogs while at Southwest Baptist.

Senior Spotlight:
Three seniors, Jennifer Conway, Becka McHenry and Megan Sharpe, have been part of the resurgence of Truman Women's Basketball. The trio has won 59 games entering postseason play and over the past four seasons has the most conference wins during that span of any Bulldog team.

Conway has started 78 of the last 104 games played in her Truman career and can finish 12th all-time in rebounding and third in blocked shots. She has averaged over eight points per game while pulling down five rebounds and had a career high 23 points against Pittsburg (Kan.) State on January 25, 2012. Her single-game career high rebounding mark was 14 on two occasions with the last coming on February 12, 2011 against Nebraska-Omaha. Conway was an honorable mention all-conference pick as a sophomore.

McHenry has started the last 77 games and 92 of her 107 overall contests in the Bulldog uniform. She is just the second Truman player to score over 1100 career points, pull down over 400 rebounds and dish out over 300 assists in her career. McHenry recorded the first triple-double since Amy Eagan when she had 14 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds against Pittsburg State in 2012. She has a single-game high of 24 points scored on four separate occasions and was a second team all-conference selection last year.

Sharpe has been a two-sport standout for the Bulldogs Basketball and Volleyball programs. She was the school's first, four-time All-American on the volleyball court and has played in 80 games, making 31 starts for the basketball team. She has averaged five points and four rebounds per game and has a single-game high of 13 points scored on two occasions and pulled down 15 rebounds against Northwest Missouri in 2011.

Regional Poll:
The Bulldogs were fifth in the second central regional poll for the NCAA tournament that was released last Wednesday. Washburn was at one and Central Missouri at two. Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) and Minnesota State Mankato were three and four.

The top eight in the region comprised of the MIAA, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Great America Conference may be selected to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

The NSIC and the MIAA tournament winners receive an automatic berth into the field while the GAC does not have an AQ leaving six of the eight berths at-large. Truman last made the NCAA Tournament in 1999.

WBCA/USA Today Poll:
Truman returned to the Top 25 last week, checking in at number 25. It was the third poll this season Truman has been ranked. Six MIAA schools are getting votes in the poll with Washburn (Kan.) in at five and the University of Central Missouri at 13. Pittsburg (Kan.) State, Fort Hays (Kan.) State and Emporia (Kan.) State are received mentions in last week's survey.

This was the 10th poll this season that Truman received votes. The highest ranking for the Bulldogs all-time was 14th on January 25, 1999.

Season Milestone Watch:

The Bulldogs 19 regular season wins are the most since the 1998-99 season. That team would finish 22-9 with three postseason victories (one in the MIAA tournament and two in the NCAA regional).
The mark for the fewest losses in a season is nine set in 1978-79, 1998-99 and 1999-00. Truman has seven losses entering the week.
Truman's 43.5% shooting percentage is sixth all-time and highest since the 2007-08 team (43.7%). The record for highest shooting percentage is 45.4 percent set during the 1998-99 campaign.
The team is second in three-pointers made with 195 through 26 games while the 2007-08 team hit 199 triples in 29.
The overall three-point shooting percentage is tops right now all-time at 42.1% with the next closest being 39% set during the 1989-90 campaign.
The 76.5% free throw shooting is second all-time trailing the 2009-10 team's 77.9%.
The 57.0 points allowed is the fewest since last year's 60.6 and the 12.2 scoring margin is also tops from last year's 10.4 points.
Allie Norton has the top three-point shooting percentage in a season at 46.3% ahead of Kathy Patterson's 1990-91 total of 44.9%. Norton's 68 triples is seventh in a season with Susan Theroff holding the record with 76 during the 1990-91 campaign.
Norton and Courtney Strait are threatening the Bulldog record for free throw percentage with a minimum of 30 made. Strait's 91.2% is second while Norton's 90.5% is fifth in a single-season. Laura Joya's 91.5% set in 2009-10 is the record.

#Trending:

Truman remained first in the national statistics in three-point field goal percentage (42.2%). They are 16th in overall field goal percentage (43.5%) and fourth in free throw shooting (76.5%.)
The Bulldogs are first among all NCAA schools in three-point shooting now ahead of Division I's Duke (N.C.) with their 41.7%. Just three schools nationally are shooting above 40% from three with the Bulldogs followed by the Blue Devils and Division II's Winona (Minn.) St. at 40.3%
Truman is 21st in the national rankings in scoring margin (+12.2) and 18th in three-pointers per game (7.5/g).
The Bulldogs have won a school-record 14 straight games in Pershing Arena dating back to February 1, 2012. The previous record for consecutive home wins was nine set during the 2007-08 season.
Truman has won four MIAA games by a scoring margin of 20 or more points. They have seven games of a margin of 20 or more points in conference over the last two years and 26 in the 30 years of MIAA Women's Basketball (since 1982-83).
Becka McHenry joined Amy Eagan as only the second Truman player to score over 1000 points (1117), have more than 400 rebounds (494) and dish out 300 assists (362). Eagan registered 1527 points, 643 boards and 529 assists from 1995-99.
Jennifer Conway moved to 12th Bulldog in career rebounds with 524. She is two blocks away from 100 for her career, which she is already third in Truman history.
Allie Norton leads the team with 68 three-pointers made while Amy Briggs is second with 52. Norton's 127 threes are seventh all-time in Bulldog career as a sophomore and her 43.2% from outside is currently the best all-time among Truman players with at least 50 made.
Becka McHenry has made 77 straight starts and Allie Norton has started 53 consecutive games. Jennifer Conway has started in 68 straight games she has been available for (missing three due to injury in the past two years). Bianca Szafarowicz has started 25 this year and 48 for her career and Nicole Gloor all 24 she has been available for and 37 for her career.
McHenry is listed in six conference statistical categories this week. She is third in assists (3.9/g), first in assist/turnover ratio (1.9) and among the leaders in scoring, rebounding, free throw percentage and defensive rebounds.
Allie Norton is first in the league in three-point shooting percentage and her 46.6% is good for first overall in Division II. She is eighth among all Divisions with five Division I players, highlighted by Duke's Tricia Liston (50.4%) and two Division III players ahead of her.
Courtney Strait's 28 points against Mount Mercy was the most by a Bulldog since Georgia Mueller scored 29 against Missouri Western on Feb. 21, 2009 and the second most by a freshman since Mueller scored 29 against Upper Iowa in January 2006.
Amy Briggs has two of the team's three double-doubles this season. She had 14 points and 10 assists against Mount Mercy. McHenry had the other with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Pittsburg State.

Up Next:
The winner of Tuesday night's first round game will play Emporia (Kan.) State on Friday afternoon in Kansas City's historic Municipal Auditorium. The Lady Hornets are the fourth seed in the bracket but lost to Truman 78-58 in Kirksville on January 12. Emporia ended the Bulldog season last year in the conference tournament with a buzzer beater in the quarterfinal round.

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