(AP) -- 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.
Courtesy Truman State University
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