The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

Game Preview:

The Truman women’s basketball team will host Pittsburg State University in a battle of undefeated teams on Saturday in Pershing Arena on the Truman campus.

Tip time is at 1:00 p.m. against two of the four perfect teams in the MIAA and both on the cusp of cracking the WBCA/USA Today Division II Top 25 poll.

The Bulldogs (6-0, 1-0 MIAA) and Gorillas (7-0, 1-0 MIAA) have split the last eight meetings dating back to 2008 and each team won as the road team last season with Pitt winning in Kirksville 70-58 and the Bulldogs downing the Gorillas in Pittsburg 55-46.

The two schools, along with Fort Hays State (7-0) and Central Missouri (6-0), are the four MIAA teams without a blemish in the loss column through the first month of the season.

In addition, both Truman and Pitt have knocked off a previously ranked opponent. The Bulldogs defeated Quincy at home while the Gorillas have beaten two ranked teams in Tarleton State and Central Oklahoma.

Speaking of the poll, Pittsburg received 51 votes and sits just outside the top 25 while Truman garnered a couple of votes in another sign of the program’s turnaround under Coach Michael Smith.

Both teams score around 80 points per game and allow under 60 while Truman has a slight edge in three-point shooting (7.2/g; 41%) and rebounding margin (+10.2/g).

The Gorillas have a better overall field goal percentage (46%) but have also blocked over seven shots a game.

Junior Jennifer Conway is ninth in the conference in scoring and leading the Bulldogs at 13.3 points per game while also being ranked 12th in rebounding at 7.7 per contest.

Fellow junior Becka McHenry is 16th in scoring at 12.5 points per night and matched her career high of 22 on Wednesday night against Missouri Southern.

Her backcourt mate, freshman Allie Norton, is 19th in scoring and the team’s top three-point threat. Norton is averaging 12 points per game and is third in the conference at 2.8 triples per game.

McHenry and Norton scored the first 18 points to start the second half as the Bulldogs overcame a seven-point deficit to win at Missouri Southern on Wednesday night 63-55.

The duo were a combine 12-of-21 (57%) from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc in turning a sluggish first half performance into the team’s second best start in school history at 6-0. 

The Bulldogs will be attempting to match the 1998-99 team for overall best start with a win over the Gorillas and tie the school’s overall seven-game winning streak on Saturday.

Truman has won seven straight on three previous occasions (1990, 1998 and 2001).

The Gorillas feature four scorers in the conferences’ top 30 with Larissa Richards at eighth with 14 points per game.

Richards is also fourth in rebounding at 8.6 per game and tops in blocked shots at 3.3/g.

Bulldogs Fast Start:

This is just the second time in the program’s 40 years that the Bulldogs have started a season 6-0.

The school record for consecutive wins to start a season is seven set by Karin Nicholl’s 1998-99 team. That was the last Bulldog team to win 20 games in a season (22-9). 

Truman has had the lead at the half in five of the first six games this season and have outscored opponents in the first 20 minutes 230-132 (+98).

Chasing 1,000

Senior Breanna Daniels is seven points away from 1,000 for her career.

She would be the 16th Truman women’s basketball player to eclipse 1,000 for a career and first since Georgia Mueller did so in 2009.

Daniels has started 74 of 87 games played during her Bulldog career and is shooting nearly 40% from the field with 117 made three pointers.

Her single-game high in points is 27 against Northwest Missouri on Feb. 17, 2010.  She is averaging 11.5 points per game.

Daniels is third all-time in Truman history in made three-pointers (117), fourth in three-pointers attempted (345), eighth in free throw percentage (.779) and 10th in field goals (385), field goals attempted (972) and games started (74).

Up Next:

The Bulldogs will host Southwest Baptist University in an MIAA game on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m.

 It is the final home game in December as the team will close out the first semester with road games at Washburn and Emporia State.

Courtesy Truman State University