KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Women's Basketball team will begin a four-game stretch against GLVC East Division opponents with a two-game homestand this weekend. The Bulldogs will host McKendree (Ill.) on Thursday night and Illinois Springfield on Saturday afternoon.
Truman is 8-5 on the season and 2-1 in the GLVC. They were defeated in double overtime by Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday in a non-conference road game by a score of 61-60. The Bulldogs fell behind by a dozen points late in the third quarter but rallied to force not one but two extra periods before losing to the Tritons.
McKendree is 6-7 on the year and 1-2 in the GLVC. The Bearcats have won six of their last seven games including a home-and-home series with Oakland City (Ind.) and their last league game against Illinois Springfield on December 12.
Illinois Springfield enters the week at 5-5 overall and 0-3 in the conference. They will play at Quincy (Ill.) on Thursday night before playing in Kirksville on Saturday.
The Bulldogs are 10-6 all-time in games played against GLVC East Division opponents and 7-1 as the home team in those games. Truman went 4-4 last year against the eight teams in the GLVC defeating McKendree 65-53 but losing to Illinois Springfield 72-57 on a two-game road swing last January.
About The Bulldogs:
Defense has been the calling card thus far for the 2015-16 Bulldogs. Truman is fifth in all of NCAA Division II in scoring defense at allowing 51.9 points per game this season. Truman is also first in the GLVC in defensive field goal percentage (33.9%), rebounding margin (+9.5/g), blocked shots per game (4.15) and defensive rebounds (28.8/g).
The Bulldogs have only lost in rebounds in two games this season, the season opener against Grand Valley State (by six) and a conference win at William Jewell (by five). In five games this season, Truman has grabbed over 10 more rebounds than their opponent, including three games over 20 more boards.
Truman has also kept opponents under 60 points in 10 of the 13 games with one of the three over 60 being a double-overtime game at Missouri-St. Louis in which the Tritons needed 61 points to down the 'Dogs. Opponents have only topped 40% from the field in two games this year with a high of 42% in the opener against Grand Valley State.
Senior Michalina Tomczak is 11th in Division II and first in the GLVC in blocked shots. Tomczak has nearly eclipsed her block total from all of last season as she enters this week with 31. She had 36 in 24 games played a year ago. Tomczak is leading the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game while shooting 50.4% from the field.
Three other Bulldogs have started all 13 games this season. Seniors Courtney Strait and Kasey Gassensmith along with sophomore Rachel Steinhoff have joined Tomczak in the starting five while Cassidy Clark has started eight games.
Steinhoff is sixth in the GLVC in assists with 40 and is eighth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 1.74. Steinhoff has averaged 8.5 points per game and pulls down 4.2 rebounds per contest.
Strait is second on the team in scoring at 9.4 points per game and is second behind Steinhoff in minutes per game. Strait averages 27.6 minutes per game and has the most three-pointers for the Bulldogs with 18 out of 59 attempts (30.5%). Strait is closing in on 1,000 career points as she enters the week with 932. She is also the career leader in free throw percentage at Truman, making 88% of her shots.
The Bulldogs average 63.1 points per game on the offensive end with a scoring margin of +11.2. The team shoots 40.1% overall from the field, 26.7% from three with 3.69 three-pointers per game and 75.3% from the foul line.
#TSUvsMcK (2015-16 Box Score)
Truman is 10-1 all-time against the Bearcats and has won the last five games dating back to 1988. The last McKendree was February 22, 1988 in Lebanon 71-64. The Bulldogs have won twice in GLVC games and won two non-conference games played against the Bearcats in the 2012 calendar year.
Truman won 65-53 in Lebanon last season as they raced out to a 13-0 lead just four minutes into the contest. The Bulldogs would go cold from the field and McKendree chipped away to get as close at five at 45-40 with 11 minutes to play. A pair of baskets by Rachel Steinoff restored the double-digit lead and Truman would keep the Bearcats at arm's length for the remainder of the game. A pair of seniors led both teams in scoring. Truman was paced by Allie Norton's 16 points while McKendree got 17 from their senior Caty Ponce. Courtney Strait and Michalina Tomczak joined Norton in double-figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.
McKendree is third in the GLVC in scoring defense at allowing 57.0 points per game and are 15th in the GLVC in scoring offense at 60.6 per game. They shoot 42% from the floor, 26.9% from outside and 70.6% from the free throw line. Junior Ellie Puscheck leads the Bearcats in scoring at 10.6 points per game with a high of 24 against Illinois Springfield on December 12.
#TSUvsUIS (2015-16 Box Score)
Truman will look to reestablish their dominance in the series with Illinois Springfield when the Bulldogs host the Prairie Stars on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs had won the first seven games played between the two schools but stumbled last year in Springfield falling 72-57. Courtney Strait scored 18 points but as a team, the Bulldogs struggled from the field shooting 32.8% overall.
The Bulldogs led 55-54 but UIS rattled off 18 straight points to notch their first conference win and first win against a Division II opponent during the season. Four Prairie Stars scored in double figures led by Jameeshia Armstrong's 16. Sophomore Syerra Cunningham posted a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
This season, the Prairie Stars are under the direction of a new head coach, Mark Kost, and are third in the GLVC in defensive three-point shooting (25.6%) and offensive rebounds (14.7/g). However, UIS is 14th in the league in scoring offense at 62.8 points scored and scoring defense with 64.7 points allowed per game. UIS shoots 38.2% overall, 32.5% from three and 59.2% from the foul line.
News & Notes:
Senior Courtney Strait will be playing in her 99th and 100th games this week. The Bulldog senior will be one of 25 players all-time to play in 100 career games. The career record for games played is 112 shared by Carol Jarrard (1978-82) and Allie Norton (2011-15). Strait has started 42 of the 98 games played thus far.
Michalina Tomczak is moving up the blocked shots charts in both season and career. Her 31 blocks thus far are four shy from cracking the single-season top 10 while her 91 career swats are fourth best and only eight behind Jennifer Conway (2009-13) for third place. Georgia Mueller owns both the season and career block record at 71 (2008) and 195 (2005-09) respectively.
As a team, Truman has 54 total blocks, 20 away from cracking the single-season top 10. The Bulldogs sit atop the GLVC in blocked shots per game at 4.15 per game. At that pace, the Bulldogs would be atop the single-season record in blocks per game as the previous record was 3.6 per game set in 2008. The single-season record, aided by Georgia Mueller's 71 was 103 also in 2008.
After blocked shots, the Bulldog defense is putting up some historic numbers. The 51.9 scoring average is the lowest allowed by a Truman team to date, the school record is 57.1 points in 2013 while number 10 on the top 10 lowest points allowed list is 66.0 set last season. The defensive field goal and three-point shooting percentage are also currently well ahead of the single season records.
Under the new quarter system, put in place this year for Women's Basketball. The Bulldogs are averaging 15.5 points per quarter while allowing 12.9. Truman has scored 20 points or more in a quarter eight times and has given up 20 in a 10-minute span on only four occasions. On the flip side, the Bulldogs have not scored 10 points in a quarter four times and have held opponents less than 10 points in 12 separate quarters.
The Bulldogs best production has been in the second quarter with 217 points (16.6/q) followed by the first quarter at 216 points (16.5/q). Quarter two has also been the best defensive quarter with allowing 145 points (11.1/q).
In games decided by five points or less, the Bulldogs are 2-1. In all games, in the last five minutes Truman is shooting 78.7% from the foul line while opponents are shooting 65.0% from the stripe.
Last Week's Recap:
Missouri-St. Louis 61, Truman 60 (2OT) (Box Score) –The Bulldogs had to play catch up for most of their first game back from the Christmas break. After scoring the first four points of the game, Truman fell behind and trailed by as many as 12 points with three minutes left in the third quarter. A furious comeback by the 'Dogs tied the game at 45 midway through the fourth quarter. From there, the game remained a one-possession contest for the remaining 16 minutes of regulation and both overtime periods. Kasey Gassensmith, who led Truman with 14 points, beat the buzzer to send the game to the second overtime. Following the ninth tie since, Jordan Fletcher made one of two free throws and the Tritons held on for the final 1:30 and the 61-60 victory. The two teams will play a conference game on January 21 in Kirksville.
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will finish up their first half of GLVC East Division play with a road swing to Louisville, Kentucky and Evansville, Indiana. Both Bellarmine and Southern Indiana are in the top three in the GLVC East behind nationally-ranked Lewis University.
