Feb. 17, 2004
Women's Basketball Heads to Missouri Western For A Must-Win Encounter
Truman State University Bulldogs
vs.
Missouri Western State College Lady Griffons
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2004
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: St. Joseph, Mo.
Arena (Capacity): MWSC Fieldhouse Arena (3,570)
Complete release in .pdf format
Media Information: The 2003-04 Truman Women's Basketball media guide is available at the gobulldogs.truman.edu web site.
Broadcast: KRES 104.7 FM in Moberly, Mo., Sports Director Brad Boyer will do play-by-play, with commentary from Kevin White, Truman Assistant Director of Athletics. The pregame show begins approximately 15 minutes before the game. The broadcast is also available on the internet at www.regionalradio.com.
MIAA Food Drive: The MIAA student advisory committee is sponsoring a food drive during the month of February. Bulldog fans who bring a canned food item to the Truman men's and women's basketball games on Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 will receive free admission.
The Bulldogs (8-14, 2-12 MIAA): The Bulldogs remain three-games out of the eighth spot in the MIAA standings, with four conference games left on the regular season slate. A loss to Missouri Western, and wins for SBU and PSU would eliminate the 'Dogs from postseason play. However, Pitt has fourth-ranked ESU on the agenda Wednesday and could help Truman stay in the postseason hunt with a loss to the Lady Hornets.
Truman came close to knocking off No. 13 Washburn in double overtime on Saturday, but lost 97-94. The 'Dogs must win on Wednesday at Missouri Western to stay in the postseason hunt, but they will also need Southwest Baptist or Pittsburg State to lose the remainder of their games. Truman has made the MIAA postseason tournament the last two seasons, and in five of the last six campaigns.
Washburn's Juwanna Rivers won the game for her team, taking over the contest in the second extra period. She scored six points in that session, including the final four points of the game. Truman led by five early in the final period and still led 94-93 with a minute remaining. Rivers, however, converted on a layup with 36 seconds left to give the Lady Blues the lead. Following a Bulldog turnover, Rivers hit two free throws to push the lead to three and a last second three-point attempt by Truman was off the mark.
Washburn led almost the entire time in regulation. The Lady Blues opened up a 13-point lead early in the first-half after a 12-0 run gave them a 30-17 advantage. The Bulldogs were able to cut into that deficit and only trailed 41-35 at the break.
The Lady Blues appeared comfortably ahead with a 10-point lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the game. Truman fought back though and took the lead at 78-76 when Adri Tromp hit a jumper with the shot clock going off and 46 seconds left in the game. Following two Washburn misses, the Bulldogs got the rebound and hit one-of-two free throws to make it a three-point lead. Rivers tied the game after getting a three-point play with a layup and free throw after being fouled. Washburn knocked the ball out of bounds with one second left and Truman's final shot was no good.
In the first overtime, both teams went scoreless for the first two minutes. Truman took the lead three times, but every time the Lady Blues would come back down and tie it up. The Bulldogs once again had the final shot, but saw their attempt blocked with two seconds remaining.
Truman outrebounded the Lady Blues by a 36-29 margin and both teams turned the ball over 23 times. Washburn shot 51% from the field while the Bulldogs were 46.2%. Both teams spent much of the game at the free throw line as 77 free throws were shot in the contest. Truman and Washburn were both around 80% from the charity stripe.
Truman got a great effort from Sarah Sommer and its three seniors. Sommer had a game-high 35 points and just missed a double-double with nine boards. Tromp added 16 points and six rebounds. Lisa Miceli played 31 minutes due to Truman's foul troubles in the post. She responded with a career-high nine points and eight rebounds. Turnbull had 11 points, including two big three-pointers early in the second overtime.
Block party: Sarah Sommer became the first Truman player to record nine blocked shots in a two-game span. On Jan. 28, she tied the school's single-game mark with five blocks against Southwest Baptist, and added four more against Missouri Southern a few days later.
In less than two full seasons as a Bulldog, Sommer has 36 career blocks, which puts her sixth on Truman's career list. Sommer's 28 blocks this season leaves her fifth on Truman's single-season list.
Truman in the current MIAA Statistical rankings: Sarah Sommer is back on top among MIAA scoring leaders with 16.7 points a game, after coming one off of her career high with 35 points vs. Washburn on Saturday.
Sommer is also third in blocks (1.27), fourth in field goal percentage (.454), ninth in free-throw percentage (.736) and seventh in rebounding (7.0).
Adri Tromp is ninth in the league rebounding (6.7) and third in offensive rebounds (2.82).
Jamie Huffman is eighth among MIAA free throw percentage leaders (.747).
Stacking up in the MIAA: In MIAA only games, Sarah Sommer leads the team with 16.5 points a game and is second in rebounding with 6.1 a contest. She is shooting 44.7% from the field.
Jamie Huffman is second in scoring vs. league schools with 12.2 points per game and she is connecting on more than half of her field goal attempts (.508, 62-of-122). She is third in rebounding with 5.3 a contest.
Four other players average at least six points a game. Kelli Floyd is third with 7.1 points a game, followed by Emily Markovich (6.6), Emily Turnbull at 6.5 and Adri Tromp (6.4 ppg).
Tromp leads the Bulldogs in conference only games with 6.5 rebounds.
Sommer and Turnbull have 34 assists, while Sommer also has team-bests with 19 blocks and 16 steals against MIAA teams.
Sommer Is Heating Up: After a slow start in MIAA play, the conference's leading scorer has been nearly unstoppable of late. Over the last 11 games, Sarah Sommer has averaged over 19.0 points a contest. In that span, she is hitting 48.3% of her shots from the field, 37.8% from beyond the arc and 79.2% from the free throw line.
Sommer has been an all-around player as well, averaging 6.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.2 steals in those 11 games.
With five games left in the regular season schedule, Sommer has scored 31 more points than her total of 336 last season.
Huffman in Double-figures: Jamie Huffman has recorded double-figure scoring totals in 11 MIAA games. She has scored at least 12 points in nine of those games, and just missed double-figures with eight points in the other two contests.
Series Records With Missouri Western: Missouri Western leads the series with Truman 38-12, and has won the last eight meetings.
Last MWSC Win: 86-69, Jan. 14, 2004
ast Truman Win: 58-54, 2-9-00
Biggest MWSC Win: +44 (102-58), 12-10-83
Biggest Truman Win: +36 (75-39), 2-7-75
Most Points by MWSC: 105, 1-19-94
Most Points by Truman: 83, 2-22-95
Last Outing with Missouri Western: The Bulldogs fell behind 46-31 at intermission, and could not overcome that deficit in the second period, despite being out-scored by just two points in that frame.
Junior center Jamie Huffman put the 'Dogs on the board first, giving Truman its only lead of the game. Truman kept the MWSC lead under double-digits until the eight-minute mark in the first when the Lady Griffons took a 30-20 lead following a 6-2 run. A free throw by junior guard Kelli Floyd and a three-pointer by senior guard Emily Turnbull cut that margin to six, but Missouri Western out-scored the 'Dogs 16-7 after that to take a 15-point lead at the break.
Huffman got on the board first again in the second period, but the Lady Griffons expanded their lead to 17 points by 17:42. The Bulldogs then proceeded on an 8-0 run to get the MWSC lead under double digits for the only time in the second half. Another three-pointer by Turnbull, who was 3-of-5 from long range for the game, ended the Truman run.
The 'Dogs could not catch up to the Lady Griffs though and were out-scored 7-2 in the closing minutes for the final margin of 86-69.
Truman shot 33.3% (7-of-21) from outside the arc, but so did MWSC (6-of-18). Both teams were also better than 40% from the field and Truman out-rebounded the Lady Griffons 42-30, but the 'Dogs committed 13 more turnovers and shot just 55.2 from the line to Missouri Western's 70.6%.
Senior forward Sarah Sommer led all scorers with 23 points and was second on the team with eight rebounds.
Huffman led the team on the boards with nine and had 15 points, while Turnbull matched her career-high and had her first double-digit scoring game of the year with 12 points.
Missouri Western (17-6, 9-5 MIAA): The Lady Griffons have won nine of their last 11 games and have already clinched a berth in the Sonic/MIAA Championship.
Emporia (81-77) and Washburn (56-40) were MWSC's only losses during that span.
Danielle McKinley is third among MIAA scoring leaders with 15.6 points a game, and is first in field goal percentage (.538) and second in steals (2.78 spg).
Eldra Paixao leads the MIAA in steals (3.61 spg) and is sixth in scoring (14.4 ppg), is third in assists (.596 apg) and field goal percentage (.457) and ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.19).
Alisa Blasdel is ninth in steals (1.87 spg) and Nicole Garner is 10th in blocked shots (0.61) among league leaders.
Carly Lee leads Missouri Western with 5.1 rebounds a game, but is not listed among the top 15 conference leaders.
It still boils down to the little things that make the difference between victory and defeat. For the Lady Miners, those little things Saturday were 24 turnovers and the inability to slow down Missouri Western's Alisa Blasdel, who hit five-of-six from three-point range as part of her 20-point game, giving the Griffons a 68-61 win over UMR at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Lady Miners played well in many respects, shooting 46 percent and outrebounding Western. But after an 11-0 run to cut a 19-point Griffon lead down to eight at 64-56 with 2:36 to go, the Lady Miners weren't able to sustain the run and ended up going down to defeat for the 15th straight time.
Coach Sloop: John Sloop became the eighth head coach in the 31-year history of the Truman women's basketball program in July of 2000, and has posted a record of 40-61 (.396) since then. He is 0-8 vs. Missouri Western.
Sloop spent the five previous years as the assistant for the Truman men's team.
In his first season as taskmaster for the Bulldog women, Sloop's team posted nine wins, the same number of wins as his 2002-03 squad. He led last year's team to its second-straight MIAA postseason tournament appearance, its fifth appearance in the last six years.
His experience with the Truman men includes an NCAA Division II Final Four appearance in 1999, as well as some of the top names in Missouri college and high school basketball.
After Sloop graduated from Maryville University in St. Louis in 1991, Sloop served under Charlie Spoonhour for one season at Southwest Missouri State University before moving to St. Louis University with Spoonhour for the next two seasons. He was an assistant coach at Southwest Missouri State University during the 1994-95 season for Mark Bernsen.