Having wrapped up its first conference tournament berth in three seasons, the Truman women’s basketball team will be playing for seeding and their seniors as the University of Central Missouri Jennies visit Pershing Arena on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. tip off.
The field of eight teams for Kansas City was set on Wednesday night when the Bulldogs defeated Lincoln University 68-44 and Pittsburg State eliminated Fort Hays State 70-56.
The winner of Saturday’s game will get to avoid the MIAA champion Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in the opening round of the conference tournament next Friday.
A win by the Bulldogs will set up a game against second-seeded Washburn in the first round while a win by the Jennies would propel them to sixth by virtue of tie-breaks and could play a slew of teams that could be third, but most likely Emporia State.
In the first meeting between the Jennies and Bulldogs back on a snowy Jan. 19th, it was all UCM for the first 28 minutes of play.
The Jennies built up an 18-point lead only to have it slip away in the final 10 minutes of the game by big nights from Becka McHenry and Amy Galey.
McHenry scored a career high 22 points with Galey adding 16 as Truman rallied to win in overtime 78-74.
It was the largest comeback by a Bulldog team in conference play since a 1994 game with Southwest Baptist University.
McHenry scored at the buzzer to send the game to overtime then scored six straight points in the overtime as the Bulldogs went on a 13-0 run in the extra period. Renae Shippy scored a career-high 18 points for the Jennies as she connected on four of six three-point attempts. Kara Fleming notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 assists.
Last Game (Truman):
The Bulldogs once again got big production from their bench as they were able to use their man-advantage to down the Lincoln Blue Tigers on Wednesday night 68-44.
The score was tied at 27 at the break but Jenny Dorman and Malorie Kiecker made all of Truman’s six three-pointers as the Bulldogs pasted the Blue Tigers in the second half 41-17.
Lincoln played just five players in the game with Vivian Essuon notching a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Jennifer Conway led Truman with 15 points while Dorman set Truman career highs with 14 points (4-of-6 from three) and five rebounds.
Last Game (Central Missouri):
Like Truman, Central used a big second half to pull away from Missouri Western on their senior night in Warrensburg on Wednesday.
The Jennies outscored the Griffons 43-26 in the final 20 minutes to record an 80-58 victory and a season sweep over Missouri Western. Kara Fleming led four Jennies in double-figures with 17 points while Rebecca Roberts added 13, Erin Redmond scored 13 and Nicole Caddell came off the bench to pour in 11.
A Look At The Playoff Picture:
The only remaining factors for the MIAA tournament next weekend in Kansas City are the match-ups as all eight spots have been secured prior to the final regular season game on Saturday.
Northwest Missouri clinched the top seed and their first outright regular season conference championship on Wednesday at home against Southwest Baptist and Washburn is locked into the number two spot with a 16-5 league mark.
Spots three through five will be determined by about a dozen tie-breaking scenarios between Emporia State, Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State
Those three teams are separated by just one game.
The most likely scenario based on Saturday’s match-ups would have Emporia as three (if they beat Fort Hays State at home),
Pittsburg State as four (if they beat Nebraska-Omaha at home) and Missouri Southern at five (if they lose at home to Northwest Missouri). Regardless, if Emporia wins they are three and Southern and Pitt will play each other in the first round.
Central and Missouri Western are tied for sixth but if Truman knocks off the Jennies on Saturday the Bulldogs would get the seventh spot by virtue of their season sweep over Central while Western would get sixth (if they win at Southwest Baptist or if they lose would hold season sweep over the Bulldogs).
If Central wins and Western wins, the Jennies would move up to sixth with their sweep over the Griffons while the Bulldogs would finish no better than eighth.
Truman To Honor Seniors:
Three seniors, Amy Galey, Cassie Hunt and Malorie Kiecker will be honored prior to tip off on Saturday.
Senior guard Amy Galey is among the conference leaders in assists at 4.2 per game and has the team’s best three-point shooting percentage but not enough attempts to qualify for any rankings.
Galey has made 20-of-54 triples for a 37% mark while also pulling down 4.2 rebounds per game.
She is third in the conference in minutes played per game at 33.7. Galey has been a staple in the Bulldog starting line-up as she has started all 52 games of her Bulldog career.
She set her Truman career high in points with 16 earlier this season against Central Missouri and became the first Bulldog to record 10 assists in a game since Amy Eagan in 1998 with 10 at Nebraska-Omaha.
Senior Malorie Kiecker has made one start in 19 games this season.
She went over 500 career points with a season-high eight on Wednesday night against Lincoln University.
For her career, she has played in 86 games and has averaged 6.2 points per game.
She is the only four-year player for the Bulldogs on the roster. Kiecker scored a career-high 20 points in a game against Emporia State in 2008 while also setting career benchmarks in rebounds (11) and assists (7) during her sophomore season.
Senior Cassie Hunt averaged three points per game and nearly two rebounds before leaving a game on Jan. 8th against Northwest Missouri with an injury.
Hunt was shooting 60% from the field in just over five minutes per game with a Truman career high of 12 points against Nova Southeastern (Fla.).
She was a transfer from North Central Missouri College.
Truman Upcoming Milestones:
Amy Galey has eclipsed 100 assists on the season and sits at 104, 15 short of her total from last season, she is 10 shy of breaking into the Truman single-season top 10 in assists for the second straight year.
Galey is tied for 10th all-time with Cathy Minor (1977-81) with 223 career assists and with three on Saturday can tie ninth place Denise Stone (1977-81).
Breanna Daniels just passed 900 career points (917) and is 22 away from matching her single-season high. Daniels scored 353 points last season in 27 games while this season only 26 regular season games will be played.
Senior Malorie Kiecker eclipsed 500 points (502) for her career with a season-high eight against Lincoln on Wednesday night. She is the Bulldogs only four-year player on the roster.
Courtesy Truman State University
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