Women's Basketball 1/14/2015 9:32:00 AM

WBB Notes: Truman vs. Missouri-St. Louis & Maryville

Truman Women's Basketball Game Notes
Thursday, January 15 at Missouri-St. Louis ~ 5:30 p.m. St. Louis, Mo.
Game Notes (PDF)
Live Audio	Live Video ($)	Live Stats (Media)
GLVC Stats	GLVC Standings	NCAA Stats
Saturday, January 17 vs. Maryville ~ 1:00 p.m. Kirksville, Mo.
Game Notes (PDF)		Live Stats (Fan)
Live Audio	Live Video	Live Stats (Media)

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Bulldog Women's Basketball team returns to divisional play this week with a road game against the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday and a home date with Maryville (Mo.) University on Saturday afternoon.

About The Bulldogs (9-4, 3-2 GLVC):
The Bulldogs will be looking to turn things around against two teams that also won 20 games last season. Truman split last weekend's road trip with a 65-53 win over McKendree (Ill.) University but suffered a 72-57 setback at the hands of the University of Illinois Springfield.

The offense has been kept under 60 points the last three games after only scoring below 60 one time last season. In the four games since the holiday break, Truman has shot 35% overall, 30% from three and 69% from the foul line.

Truman is tied with William Jewell with a 3-2 record for second place in the GLVC West Division, two games back of leader Drury (Mo.) University at 5-0. This week's opponents are right on the Bulldog heels with 2-2 league marks.

Senior guard Allie Norton is fourth in the GLVC in scoring at 15.6 points per game and is among league leaders in assists (14^th), free throw shooting (8^th), three-point field goal shooting (9th/percentage; 2^nd/made) and minutes played (5th). Norton has made 38 three-pointers this season and leads the team with 38 assists.

Junior Courtney Strait has averaged 18 points in her last four games and is eighth in the league in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Strait has made 51-of-56 free throws (91.1%) and is third in the conference in that category.

The top five leading scorers on Truman's team are the five that have started every game. Junior Michalina Tomczak is third at 10.1 points and leading in rebounding at 6.7 per night while a pair of freshmen, Ashley Hartwig (5.9 ppg) and Rachel Steinhoff (5.2 ppg) follow.

Truman has averaged 69.7 points offensively but has allowed 69.2 points on the defensive end. Overall, the team is shooting 41% from the floor, 37% from three and 73.6% from the line. Opponents are shooting 43% overall, 36% from three and 77% from the stripe.

Truman vs. Missouri-St. Louis (Thursday 5:30 p.m. – St. Louis, Mo.)
Series History: Last year's two games were the first played by the former MIAA members in 18 years. Truman leads the all-time series 16-14 with the teams holding court in their home buildings last season. The Bulldogs won 70-55 in Kirksville while the Tritons held serve winning 80-76 in St. Louis. The two teams played annually from 1982 through 1996 as members of the MIAA.
UMSL Last Time Out: The Tritons made the trek up north and came away winless against Lewis (Ill.) and Wisconsin-Parkside. Jordan Fletcher was 6-of-7 from the field for 14 points in the Tritons 78-59 loss to the undefeated Flyers and on Saturday, Alexis Lawrence led five players in double-digits with 17 points in a 76-68 loss to the Rangers.
About the Tritons: After going 21-8 last season, including a 13-5 GLVC mark, the Tritons are 6-6 overall and 2-2 in the league…their conference wins came at home against Illinois Springfield 54-34 and McKendree 66-57…another common opponent between Truman and UMSL is Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) with both winning, Truman 80-62, UMSL 62-47…Lawrence leads the GLVC in three-pointers per game and is eighth in Division II making 3.25…Lawrence averages 15.3 points per game and is the only Triton player in double-figure scoring…UMSL is first in the GLVC three rebounding categories, rebounding defense (31.9/g), rebounding margin (+8.1/g) and offensive rebounds (14.5/g)… as a team, they shoot 41% overall, 34% from three, 70% from the line and score 66.7 points per game while allowing 61.8…Katie Vaughn is in her third season as head coach after joining the Tritons program after three years from Lincoln (Mo.) University.

Truman vs. Maryville (Saturday 1:00 p.m. – Kirksville, Mo.)
Series History: The two teams doubled the amount of games against each other meeting three times last season. Truman holds a 5-1 record over the Saints with each team winning on the others home court last season and the Bulldogs taking the rubber game 58-45 in the GLVC Championship game in Evansville, Indiana.
Maryville Last Time Out: The Saints joined Missouri-St. Louis in the trip to Lewis and Wisconsin-Parkside and suffered similar fates. Shelby Miller scored 19 points but a second-half blitz by the Rangers led to a 92-62 loss last Thursday then on Saturday, Miller, Jade Rogers and Rita Flynn all scored 17 apiece in an 88-77 loss to #2 Lewis.
About The Saints: Maryville is 8-5 on the year and 2-2 in the GLVC…the Saints swept McKendree (79-68) and Illinois Springfield (84-70) to earn their conference wins thus far…the other common opponent with the Bulldogs is Culver-Stockton (Mo.) with Truman winning 86-74 and the Saints prevailing 97-73…Shelby Miller was a first-team all-GLVC selection last season and leads the team in scoring at 14 points per game…Saints lead the GLVC and are 13^th in Division II in three-point defense, holding opponents to 24.7% from outside…Alex Hillyer averages 13.8 points per game and is fifth in the GLVC in blocks per game at 1.3…as a team, Maryville shoots 43% overall, 32.8% from three and 73% from the line while scoring 74.3 points and allowing 65.2 per game…have made it to the GLVC tournament title game the last three years, winning in 2012…Chris Ellis is in his 14^th season at the helm of the Saints.

Bulldog Notebook:
Norton Moving Up Charts:
Allie Norton became the 19^th Truman player to join the 1,000 point club earlier this season (1,153) and is second in career three-point shooting at Truman with 239 made.
Norton is the second active career leader in Division II in three-point shooting at 42.9% and is sixth among all three NCAA Divisions.
She is second in Division II, 11^th overall in three-pointers made and fourth (DII) 19^th overall in three-pointers made per game (2.44).

Strait Shooting:
In her three seasons as a Bulldog, Courtney Strait has been nearly perfect from the charity stripe. Strait's career 90.4% free throw shooting percentage ranks first in Truman lore ahead of teammate Allie Norton's 86.2%. Megan Kahn is the non-active player career leader at 83% with a minimum of 100 made.

Double-Figure Games:
Allie Norton has 61 career double-digit scoring nights with nine 20+ point games. She set a new career-high of 29 points against Culver-Stockton the last time out. Norton has scored in double-digits in 10 straight games entering the weekend and all but one (Kentucky Wesleyan) this season.

Courtney Strait has 31 games in which she scored 10 or more points and nine games of 20 or more, including four this season. Her career-high is 28 against Mount Mercy (Iowa) on December 21, 2012. She has averaged a team-leading 16.4 points in conference games and 18.0 in her last four outings.

Michalina Tomczak has 12 double-figure scoring games with a career-high of 25 against Cameron (Okla.) earlier this season. Tomczak has been in double-figures in six out of the last eight games.

Downward Trending:
Since the holiday break, Truman has shot 35% from the field, 30.4% from three and 69.1% from the foul line in four games. In the second half of those games, the Bulldogs are 9-of-35 from three (25.7%) while their opponents have been 14-of-29 (48.3%) from long range.

Truman's Tough Schedule:
The Bulldogs have played four nationally-ranked programs with three loses coming against teams that are now a combine 40-3 (.930), Pittsburg (Kan.) State at 15-1, West Texas A&M at 10-2 and Lewis (Ill.) 15-0. Truman handed then #18 Missouri Southern their first loss of the season back on December 15 and the Lions are currently 9-4. Lewis and Pittsburg State are the number one and two teams ranked in this week's WBCA USA Today Division II Coaches' Poll.

Best Shooting Conference:
As a whole, the GLVC is ranked fourth among the 24 Division II leagues in overall field goal percentage (41.8%) and first in both three-point shooting (34.2%) and free throw shooting (73.2%).

Truman dropped to third in the conference and 18^th nationally in three-point shooting (37.3%), fifth and 28^th overall in free throw shooting (73.6%) and eighth in the GLVC in overall field goal percentage (41.1%). The national averages are 39.9% for overall, 31.5% for three-point and 68.7% for free throws.

Tip-Ins:

The Bulldogs are 67-31 (.684) over the past four seasons, 38-23 (.623) in league games and 37-8 (.822) in games played in Pershing Arena during that span.
This season, Truman is fifth in Division II in personal fouls per game (14.2/game).
Truman is averaging 7.4 three-pointers made per game, good for 33^rd in Division II.
The Bulldogs have used the same starting lineup for all 13 games played this season. Allie Norton, Courtney Strait, Michalina Tomczak have been joined by redshirt freshman Ashley Hartwig and true freshman Rachel Steinhoff.
Senior Allison Weise, junior Sarah Gaeddert and redshirt freshman McKenzie Russell have appeared off the bench in all 13 games played.
The Bulldog bench is averaging 18.2 points per game and the team has been outscored in the paint 24.2 to 34.2 per game.
The largest margin overcome for victory was eight points in the second half against Quincy (Ill.) while the largest lead lost was just three points against West Texas A&M.
Off the court, Truman had three players, Michalina Tomczak, Nicole Gloor and Tawny Tucci, earn Academic All-GLVC.

Up Next: Truman will continue the homestand with dates against William Jewell (Mo.) next Thursday and Rockhurst (Mo.) next Saturday afternoon.

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Players Mentioned

#32 Nicole Gloor: F; 5' 10"; Senior

#24 Sarah Gaeddert: F; 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior

#12 Allie Norton: G; 5' 6"; Senior

#23 Courtney Strait: G; 5' 10"; Junior

#44 Michalina Tomczak: C; 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior

#10 Tawny Tucci: G; 5' 6"; Junior

#03 McKenzie Russell: G; 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman

#42 Ashley Hartwig: F; 5' 11"; Redshirt Freshman

#32 Rachel Steinhoff: G; 5' 7"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#32 Nicole Gloor
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

#24 Sarah Gaeddert
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior
: F

#12 Allie Norton
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

#23 Courtney Strait
: 5' 10"; Junior
: G

#44 Michalina Tomczak
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior
: C

#10 Tawny Tucci
: 5' 6"; Junior
: G

#03 McKenzie Russell
: 5' 8"; Redshirt Freshman
: G

#42 Ashley Hartwig
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Freshman
: F

#32 Rachel Steinhoff
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: G