Women's Basketball 11/12/2015 8:21:00 AM

Women's Basketball Challenges Regional Foes This Weekend

Truman Women's Basketball Notes (November 14-15, 2015)
Twitter: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanStateWBB || #BewareofDog || @TrumanGameday

Game #1: Truman (16-11) vs. Grand Valley State (22-9)
When: Saturday, November 14, 2015 || 6 p.m.
Where: Quincy, Illinois || Pepsi Arena (Quincy University)
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (No Audio)
2014-15 Stats: Truman | Grand Valley State

Game #2: Truman (16-11) vs. Northern Michigan University (17-10)
When: Sunday, November 15, 2015 || 1 p.m.
Where: Quincy, Illinois || Pepsi Arena (Quincy University)
Live Stats || Live Stats (Media) || Live Video (No Audio) || Live Audio (KRES)
2014-15 Stats: Truman | Northern Michigan

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Women's Basketball team will tip off the 2015-16 season at the Quincy Microtel GLVC/GLIAC Challenge. The Bulldogs will play Grand Valley (Mich.) State on Saturday evening following by a game against Northern Michigan on Sunday afternoon.

The four-team challenge is one of several around Division II this opening weekend. The NCAA approved conference challenge tournaments as a way to promote in-region competition for the purpose of helping selections for the NCAA Tournament in March. The games are "exempt" from the regular 26-game schedule meaning these games do not count against the 26 teams are allowed to play but do count in records/stats. Quincy University is the fourth team in the tournament and host for the event.

#TSUvsGVSU
This will be the second meeting between the two schools with the previous one coming in 2013 going the Lakers way 81-68. That was the only loss dealt to the Bulldogs in their first seven games as Truman went on to finish 22-9 and won the GLVC Postseason Tournament. In that game, Truman struggled shooting, hitting only 33% from the field and suffered from a huge free throw disparity. The Lakers outscored the Bulldogs by 18 at the free throw line as they hit 32-of-42 attempts. Of Truman returning players against the Lakers, Michalina Tomczak scored six points and pulled down seven boards, Kasey Gassensmith had four points and one rebound and Courtney Strait had seven points and 11 boards off the bench.

The Lakers were picked second in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference North Division and are coming off a 20-8 finish a season ago. Senior guard Brionna Barnett was a preseason First Team all-conference selection and Kayla Dawson was a second team choice. Barnett averaged a team-high 15.8 points and 3.4 assists per game. GVSU is under the director of new head coach Mike Williams.

#TSUvsNMU
It was 2001 when Truman and Northern Michigan opened the season with a neutral site game in Quincy. The Wildcats took that game 93-82 but the Bulldogs then reeled off seven straight wins following that loss.

The Wildcats played an exhibition game against Wisconsin-Superior on Saturday and won 74-54. Chloe Tompkins scored 17 points and as a team, NMU knocked down 11 of 32 three-point attempts. The Wildcats were picked fourth in the North Division of the GLIAC and were 17-10 overall and 15-7 in the conference last year.

Truman Exhibition Game Recap:
Truman played a pair of Division I exhibition games on back-to-back nights last week. They were defeated by Western Illinois 63-41 on Thursday, November 5^th and 67-60 by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Friday, November 6^th.

All 15 Truman roster players played against the Leathernecks with 11 getting into the scoring column. Michalina Tomczak led Truman with eight points while pulling down seven rebounds and adding two blocks.

Against the Cougars, Courtney Strait, Ashley Hartwig and Kasey Gassensmith each had 10 points apiece and Strait dished out seven of the game's 11 assists. The Bulldogs knocked down eight three-pointers and had just 10 turnovers against the team picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference title.

About The Bulldogs:
Head Coach Amy Eagan enters her third season at the helm of the Bulldogs who were 16-11 last year and 10-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Truman returns 10 players and four starters off of last year's squad including seniors Courtney Strait (13.2 ppg/6.0 rpg) and Michalina Tomczak (10.6 ppg/6.6 rpg).

Truman was picked third in the GLVC West Division preseason coaches' poll. Drury (Mo.) was tabbed first followed by Quincy and the Bulldogs. Missouri-St. Louis, Maryville, William Jewell, Rockhurst and Missouri S&T rounded out the divisional slate.

Strait started all 27 games last season and shot 38% from the field with 39 three-pointers and 90% from the foul line. She scored in 20 points in four games a season ago and had a season-high of 22 against Kentucky Wesleyan. She had a pair of double-doubles and is among the career leaders in free throw shooting and three-point shooting at Truman.

Tomczak started all but two games as a junior and led the team with 39 blocks, which was ranked third in the conference. It was the fourth most in Truman single-season history. Tomczak averaged 6.6 rebounds per game and notched four double-doubles. She enters her final season sixth on the Bulldog Blocks list with 60 and three back of Jennifer Fisher for fifth overall.

A pair of freshman, one true freshman, are the other two returning starters. Ashley Hartwig started 26 games and averaged 6.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game and Rachel Steinhoff started all 27 with a 4.1 points per game mark and dished out 42 assists.

Other returners include seniors Kasey Gassensmith, Tawny Tucci, junior Linnea Schmelzer, sophomores Kennedy Martin, Montira Mosby, Sam Andrews and Ashley Ploudre (redshirt). Gassensmith brings 70 games of experience into the season with a career 45% field goal shooting percentage. Schmelzer has seen action in 40 career games, 17 last year. Martin played in 13 games as a freshman, scoring 24 points, Mosby was in eight games and made five of 10 field goal attempts and Andrews played in 24 while making one start. Ploudre played in 11 games during the 2013-14 season. Brook Bailey is a redshirt freshman.

Of the newcomers, Cassidy Clark is a junior transfer from Coal Valley, Illinois, via Kirkwood (Iowa) Community College. Clark started 67 out of a possible 69 games at Kirkwood leading the Eagles to a 56-13 record. She averaged eight points, five rebounds while being named to the all-NJCAA and All-Region IX Tournament teams. At Orion High School, she scored a career record 1,375 points with a single-game mark of 36 while earning AP Illinois Class 2A All-State honors twice.

Bethany Daniels, Rachel Edmundson and Mackenzie Jerks are the three true freshmen on the squad. Daniels averaged over 10 points and nearly 10 rebounds as a post player at Tri-City High School in Buffalo, Illinois. Edmundson is from Eldridge, Iowa and North Scott High School where she was a three year starter and an all-state selection. Jerks was a four-year starter leading the Bay Port High School team in Green Bay, Wisconsin in assists.

2015-16 Rule Changes:
Several rule changes go into effect this season. Among the more drastic changes will be the adoption of the quarter system. The game will still be 40 minutes long but instead of two 20-minute halves, the game will be divided into four 10-minute quarters. This change is to cut down on the number of timeouts as only one media timeout per quarter is permissible.
                Time Outs – Each team will have three 30-second timeouts and one full timeout for a game. Timeouts called by the defensive team in the final minute of the fourth quarter and overtimes will allow that team to advance the ball to the offensive end for the inbounds play.
                10-Second Backcourt – The 10-second count shall reset on all stoppages of the game clock except when the defense causes the ball to be out of bounds, the offense retains possession after a held ball, or there is a technical foul assessed to the offensive team.
                The Bonus – The One and One is no more. A team is awarded two free throws following the fifth team foul in each quarter. They will shoot two free throws for the remaining of that quarter only and team fouls will reset with the start of each quarter.

Up Next:
Following this weekend, Truman will play three straight in Pershing Arena. The Bulldogs will join their male counterparts for a doubleheader with Central Christian (Mo.) on Wednesday night starting at 5:30 p.m. then will play next Saturday afternoon at home against Missouri Southern (1 p.m.). The homestand will end on Monday, November 23 with a 5:30 p.m. game against Hannibal-LaGrange.

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Players Mentioned

#40 Sam Andrews: F; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#30 Kasey Gassensmith: G; 6' 0"; Senior

#42 Ashley Hartwig: F; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#20 Kennedy Martin: F; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#35 Montira Mosby: F; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#13 Ashley Ploudre: G; 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore

#21 Linnea Schmelzer: G; 5' 8"; Junior

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

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

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

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

#01 Mackenzie Jerks: G; 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#40 Sam Andrews
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: F

#30 Kasey Gassensmith
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G

#42 Ashley Hartwig
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: F

#20 Kennedy Martin
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: F

#35 Montira Mosby
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: F

#13 Ashley Ploudre
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#21 Linnea Schmelzer
: 5' 8"; Junior
: G

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

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

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

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

#01 Mackenzie Jerks
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: G