The Bulldog women’s basketball team will be looking to right the ship as they continue their three-game road swing on Wednesday night against the Missouri Western State University Griffons.

Truman has dropped their last three games while the Griffons are coming off a win against Lincoln and a season sweep over the Bulldogs last year.

Truman suffered their second one-point loss in a conference game this year when they fell 58-57 to Northwest Missouri on Saturday.

 The Bulldogs led by 11 midway through the second half and by five with 2:12 to play but costly turnovers and some scoring droughts gave Northwest a chance to win the game late.

Shelly Martin delivered the fatal basket with four seconds left to give the Bearcats their only lead of the game.

Becka McHenry led Truman with 19 points and eight rebounds to go with four assists. It was the second time this year the junior has led Truman in all three major stat categories in a game.

The Griffons have won both games at home since the calendar turned 2012.

 They defeated Northwest Missouri 62-51 last Wednesday followed with a 74-66 win over Lincoln on Saturday.

The Griffons are led by the MIAA’s top scorer in Jessica Koch, who is averaging 21.5 points per game, five points better than the next two leaders in the conference (Vivian Essuon-Lincoln; Nicole Caddell-Central Missouri).

 Koch had 28 in the win against the Blue Tigers while also dishing out seven assists.

Junior Becka McHenry leads Truman in scoring and is 13th in the conference at 12.7 points per game. McHenry is averaging 14.1 in seven conference games while shooting 41% from the floor and 4.7 assists per game.

 Junior Jennifer Conway, who missed Saturday’s game with an injury, is second in scoring at 12.2 per game and leads the team in rebounding at 6.5 per contest.

Senior Breanna Daniels is also in double-figures in scoring at 10.2 per game and second in rebounds at 6.3.

Freshman Allie Norton leads the team with 29 three-pointers and is shooting 50% from beyond the arc.

The Bulldogs are averaging 71.4 points per game and 65.3 in conference games.

They are shooting 41% from the field, 40% from beyond the arc and 76% from the foul line.

All-conference senior Jessica Koch is the leader of the Griffons this year with her 21.5 points per game average.

She scored a season-high 30 in a loss earlier this year to Nebraska-Omaha. Koch is shooting nearly 43% from the floor with 18 three-pointers and pulling down over seven rebounds per game.

The Griffons are averaging just 60 points per game this season and shooting as a team just 34% from the floor and 26% beyond the arc. 

 Missouri Western has a minus-5 rebounding disadvantage and turns the ball over nearly 20 times a game.

Missouri Western leads the overall series 46-16 and has a 26-5 advantage in games played in St. Joseph. Truman’s last win against the Griffons on the road came in 2009 as they won 71-62.

The Griffons swept both games from the Bulldogs last season winning 62-53 in Kirksville and 68-48 in St. Joseph.

Truman struggled shooting against the Griffons a season ago.

 The Bulldogs shot just 32% from the floor, 25% from beyond the arc and an uncharacteristic 60% at the free throw line.

Truman also lost the rebounding battle by a total of nine in the two games. The Griffons shot 46% from the field against Truman and Jessica Koch averaged 17.5 points.

Courtesy Truman State University