(AP) -- The Truman women’s basketball team will play an exhibition game against the University of Missouri on Tuesday night in Columbia.
The Bulldogs were 12-15 last season while the Tigers posted a 13-18 mark. Tip-off from Mizzou Arena is set for 7:00 p.m.
“It’s Expected” is the sign hanging on the new locker room for the Truman women’s basketball team as Head Coach Michael Smith begins his fourth season at the helm.
Smith’s ball club has improved each year in the win column over that span and last year the team earned their first trip to the conference postseason tournament.
In addition, three players, two returning, earned all-conference honors, a program best since 1999.
The 2011-12 edition of the Bulldogs are still relatively young with just two seniors in Breanna Daniels and Jenny Dorman and three returning, juniors Becka McHenry, Megan Sharpe and all-conference post Jennifer Conway among the roster of 14.
Daniels was the team’s leading scorer last season at 12.9 points per game and earned third-team all-MIAA status.
She has appeared in 81 games over the past three seasons with an 11.5 ppg mark and is closing in on 1,000 career points with 934.
Dorman, who has come off the bench in all but six of her 50 games played, had a strong finish to last season by dropping down nine of 14 three point attempts in the final three games and shot 47% from beyond the arc.
McHenry has started 39 of the 54 in her Bulldog career and averaged 8.4 points last season while chewing up nearly 25 minutes of game time each contest.
Conway had a tremendous second half of the season as she averaged over 11 points and pulled down nearly seven rebounds following the holiday break last season.
She earned honorable mention all-conference honors as a sophomore.
Sharpe will rejoin the Bulldogs following her volleyball season as she has the last two years.
Sharpe has played in 41 career games and has more offensive rebounds (76) than defensive boards (69) during that span.
Sharpe increased her scoring last season to 4.6 per game and shot nearly 50% from the floor.
The contributions last season from freshmen Nicole Gloor, Bianca Szafarowicz and Kaitlin Stump added to the depth of this Bulldog team.
Gloor was second on the team in scoring at 9.1 per game as the “sixth” person off the bench last year.
Gloor shot 50% from the floor and was among the team leaders in steals with 27.
Szafarowicz started 16 of 27 games while averaging 3.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest. Stump, in limited action, appeared in 13 games and had two steals.
Coach Smith has six newcomers that should also make an immediate impact to the season.
All six have earned all-state honors in high school and one (Rachel Remick) won a national championship at Kirkwood junior college last season.
Remick averaged 16 points as Kirkwood went 62-8 during her two year span at the junior college.
She scored over 1,200 points as a high school senior and will give the Bulldogs added presence in the post position.
Allie Norton, Allison Wiese and Aqua Corpening will look to run the offense with the departure of all-conference senior Amy Galey.
Norton is a true three-point threat with a 43% average behind the arc as a senior in high school.
Her brother, Tom Norton, is a junior sharpshooter for the Bulldog men’s basketball team and her father is in his second year as an assistant coach with the Missouri Tigers.
Wiese averaged over 10 points and four assists while earning all-state honors in Illinois and Corpening averaged over 16 points a night while earning Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and Missouri Sports Writers/Sportscasters all-state accolades.
Sarah Gaeddert and Michelle Tomczak both earned all-state recognition in the post for their respective high school teams.
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Up Next:
Truman will open up the 2011-12 season with four straight home games.
The Bulldogs will tip things off on Nov. 12th when they host Lindenwood-Belleville at 1:00 p.m. at Pershing Arena.
Courtesy Truman State University
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