Nov. 21, 2000
Women's Basketball Opens 2000-01 Home Schedule vs. St. Joseph's
The Game: Truman State University Bulldogs (Mid-America Intercollegiate
Athletics Association/NCAA Division II) vs. St. Joseph's College Lady Pumas
(NCAA DII/Great Lakes Valley Conference)
Date: Friday, Nov. 24, 2000
Location: Kirksville, Mo.
Arena (Capacity): Pershing Arena (2,600)
Broadcast: KRES 104.7 FM in Moberly, Mo., Chad Speakar will do play-by-play. The pregame show begins approximately 15 minutes before the game. The Dec. 2 and Dec. 15 road games will be on 99.9 KIRK.
The campus station, KTRM 88.7, is tentatively scheduled to also broadcast the Nov. 28, Jan. 20 & 27 and Feb. 10 games.
Team Line: Live KRES broadcast by calling 1-800-846-4700. Access Code: 6350
Truman: The Bulldogs kicked off the 2000-01 season by splitting a pair of games at the Quincy (Ill.) tournament last week. On Friday, the Bulldogs fell 73-71 to Tampa (Fla.). Junior center Jennifer Perkins (Ft. Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmund) scored the first point of the new millennium and led the 'Dogs with 18 points. She shot .500 from the field, sinking eight of 16 field goals, and was 2-of-4 from the free throw line. Perkins was also named to the all-tournament team.
On Saturday, head coach John Sloop registered his first career victory as Truman beat the host, Quincy, 50-48, after trailing for most of the game.
Truman vs. Tampa: The Bulldogs had as much as a seven-point lead through first-half action and took a four-point lead at intermission. Just under a minute into the second half, junior guard Tessa Thurman (Atlanta, Mo./John Wood CC) hit her second of four three pointers for the game to push the 'Dogs' lead to 10. However, by the 13-minute mark, Tampa had made its come-back and took a 48-47 edge over Truman. The Bulldogs regained the lead a few minutes later but were only able to build a four-point margin until 1:16 to go when Tampa went ahead, 66-65. Freshman guard Emily Turnbull (Toulon, Ill.) then hit two charity buckets to give Truman its last lead. Tampa answered with a jumper and kept the 'Dogs within a few points for the next 46 seconds to claim the 73-71 victory.
Five Bulldogs scored their first points at Truman. Aside from Thurman and Turnbull, junior guard Jessy Fletcher (Atlanta, Mo./John Wood), freshman guard Jennifer McDonnell (Archie, Mo.) and freshman guard/forward Annie Westhoff (Webster Groves, Mo.) each tallied for the Dogs.
Thurman and Fletcher tied for second on the team with 14 points each, while sophomore center/forward Jennifer Fisher (Fordland, Mo./Marshfield) also scored in double figures with 10 points. Fletcher led the team on the boards with eight rebounds, while Fisher and junior guard Robyn Gerber (Affton, Mo./Lutheran South) tied for second with six boards apiece. Fisher hit two treys and Fletcher and Gerber each had one. Turnbull led the team with 5-of-6 free throw shooting. Gerber was tops on the team with five assists and Perkins had two blocked shots.
Truman vs. Quincy: The only lead the Bulldogs had vs. Quincy was the only one that counted as Gerber dished off the game-winner to Perkins inside with one second remaining on the clock. Quincy went up 19-2 to start the game but saw that lead dwindle to five at intermission as the Bulldogs went on a 13-3 run in the the final seven and a half minutes of the first half. QU again built a 14-point lead with 7:52 left to play. Sparked by a Gerber three-pointer, Truman then began a 17-1 run and shut down the Lady Hawks, allowing them just one more point the rest of the game.
With 27 ticks left on the clock, Thurman was fouled in three-point land, and hit all three free throws to tie the score at 48. The Lady Hawks began to bring the ball back up the floor only to call a timeout with seven seconds left to play. On the inbounds, the QU player overshot her intended receiver and turned the ball over. Gerber took the ball for Truman and drove into the lane, and looked open for the jumper, but then passed it inside to Perkins for the game-winner.
About St. Joseph's: St. Joseph's has played two games, but has yet to register a win this season. The Lady Pumas fell 75-74 to Northwood (Mich.) and lost 79-56 to Saginaw Valley State (Mich.) at the Northwood tournament on Friday and Saturday. Freshman forward Heather Allen leads SJC in scoring with 31 points, and tallied team highs with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Saginaw Valley. Sophomore guard Whitney Avery has 26 points, but had just seven of those in the SVSU encounter. Against Northwood, sophomore center Akyla Catlin swatted four balls, freshman guard/forward Erin Sampsel had 11 assists and Avery was 4-of-11 from beyond the arc.
Series Records: The fist and only time Truman and St. Joseph's
met was on Nov. 25, 1995, in Rensselaer, Ind., when the Bulldogs lost 82-75.