Jan. 2, 2001
Truman Women's Basketball Teams Begins MIAA Slate by Entertaining Central Missouri Jennies
THE GAME: Truman State University Bulldogs (Mid-America Intercollegiate
Athletics Association/NCAA Division II) vs. Central Missouri State University
Jennies (NCAA DII/MIAA)
DATE: Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2001
LOCATION: Kirksville, Mo.
ARENA (CAPACITY): Pershing Arena (2,600)
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 campus station, KTRM 88.7, is tentatively scheduled to also broadcast the Jan. 20 & 27 and Feb. 10 games.
TEAM LINE: Live KRES broadcast by calling 1-800-846-4700. Access Code: 6350
TRUMAN PROBABLE STARTERS
10-Jessy Fletcher, Jr., G/F, 5-11 (10.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg)
25-Annie Westhoff, G/F, 6-0, Fr. (8.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
35-Jennifer Perkins, Jr., C/F, 6-1 (15.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
13-Robyn Gerber, Jr., G, 5-8 (8.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
11-Tessa Thurman, Jr., G, 5-6 (7.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
CENTRAL MISSOURI PROBABLE STARTERS
12-Kelly Sutton, F, 5-10, Sr. (4.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg)
21-Marlies Ozias, G/F, 5-8, Sr. (9.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg)
44-Katie Vaske, C, 6-1, Jr. (9.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg)
14-Blanche Tucker, G, 5-9, Sr. (6.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg)
25-Lori Nichols, G, 5-7, Jr. (16.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
TRUMAN: The Bulldogs are 5-3 and ready to get back to action after a 16-day break in the season. Truman will play host to the 7-1 Central Missouri Jennies in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association opener tomorrow. The 'Dogs completed the non-conference and 2000 portion of their schedule on a three-game win-streak and were 3-1 in the month of December.
The latest skein began with a 73-51 win over Mt. Mercy, before going undefeated on the road to close out non-conference action. The Bulldogs' away wins were at Rockhurst in a rematch on Dec. 15 57-44, followed by a trip to Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 17 when Truman's most recent triumph was charted, an 80-68 win over the Mavericks.
All three of the Truman's losses this year have been by a combined five points. The 'Dogs opened the 2000-01 campaign with a 73-71 loss to Tampa (Fla.) in the Quincy (Ill.) Tournament, before registering their first win over the host, 50-48. Truman won its first home encounter 99-66 against St. Joseph's (Ind.), but then hit a two-game slide, falling to Rockhurst 58-56 in Kirksville and Concordia University, St. Paul (Minn.) 66-65 in a neutral site game at Rockhurst. Since then, the Bulldogs have been riding that three-game winning streak.
ABOUT THE JENNIES: Central Missouri (7-1 in non-conference play) is enjoying a six-game win-streak that includes two overtime victories on the road. The Jennies began the season by splitting in their own Classic. First they gave an 86-46 thrashing to Lincoln University in the season opener, before losing their only contest to date 74-71 to SIU-Edwardsville. CMSU then went undefeated in the Metro State (Colo.) Thanksgiving Classic, beating West Florida 65-64 and then the host, 92-56. The Jennies remained on the road to begin the December schedule, but brought home two wins, 79-75 over Missouri-St. Louis and 94-87 over Drury University. Central Missouri returned to the friendly confines of the Multipurpose Building to close out 2000 and tallied wins over Morningside (Iowa) 89-79 and Evangel, 85-64.
Junior guard Lori Nichols leads the Jennies with 16.9 points a game and 38 assists, while junior center Katie Vaske leads the team on the boards with 6.6 a game along with six blocked shots.
Against Evangel, Nichols scored 21 points and had no rebounds. She was 8-of-12 from the field and hit 5-of-6 three-pointers. Junior center Nicole Cassmeyer was second in scoring with 13 points, while senior guard/forward Marlies Ozias also scored in double figures with 11, and had a team-high five assists. Ozias was 3-of-4 from long range. Senior guard Blanche Tucker led the team with five caroms.
Through games of Dec. 28, Nichols is third in MIAA scoring (16.3), assists (5.43 pg), three-point field goal percentage (.449) and assist/turnover ratio (2.53), while also ranking first in three-point field goals made (3.14 pg) and ninth in field goal percentage (.411). Vaske is ninth in conference rebounding (7.3 pg), 10th in steals (2.14 pg) and tied for seventh in blocked shots (0.86 pg).
Junior guard Molly Knobbe is second in MIAA free throw percentage (.889), while freshman guard/forward Jena Shackelford leads the MIAA in three-point field goal percentage (.579) and is tied for ninth in three-point field goals made (1.57 pg).
SERIES RECORDS: Central Missouri has a commanding 38-4 lead in the all-time series with Truman. The Jennies won the last meeting on Feb. 2, 2000, 72-68 in Kirksville. However, the Bulldogs registered their first win in Warrensburg on Feb. 5, 2000, beating CMSU 72-70. The 'Dogs have split with Central Missouri the last three seasons.
BULLDOGS IN THE MIAA (GAMES THROUGH DEC. 28): Through games of Dec. 28, junior center/forward Jennifer Perkins (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmund) is fifth in the conference with 15.9 points a game, tied for 10th in rebounding (7.1 rpg), third in field goal percentage (.554) and fifth in blocked shots (1.13 pg).
Sophomore forward/center Jennifer Fisher (Fordland, Mo./Marshfield) leads the MIAA in free throw percentage (.913) and is third in rebounding (9.0 rpg) and blocked shots (1.38 pg).
Junior guard/forward Jessy Fletcher (Atlanta, Mo.) is seventh in rebounding (7.9 pg) and sixth in blocked shots (0.88 pg).
Junior guard Tessa Thurman (Atlanta, Mo./John Woods CC) is eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.292) and three-point field goals made (1.75 pg).
Junior guard Robyn Gerber (Affton, Mo./Lutheran South) is fourth in league assist/turnover ratio (2.08).
TRUMAN vs. NEBRASKA-OMAHA: Four Bulldogs scored in double digits as Truman defeated UNO 80-68 on Dec. 17. Perkins led the crew with 21 points, while Fisher put up 14, freshman guard Keagan Thalin (Glenbrook, Ill./Glenbrook South) contributed a career-high 13 and Gerber added 11. Perkins and Fisher tied for the team-high with nine rebounds apiece. Thalin made it to the line 14 times, sinking 11 charity shots, while Fisher was perfect from the free throw line, hitting all eight attempts, along with two three-point buckets.
Thurman began all scoring with a trey and started a Bulldog lead that would hold up for the next 10 minutes. The 'Dogs biggest lead of the half was six points after Perkins made two free throws inside the 14-minute mark. However, the Mavericks went ahead on a 11-4 run by 9:33.
The Bulldogs quickly regained the lead only to see UNO tie the score at 18 with under nine minutes to play in the half. Nebraska-Omaha then came out on top of two more lead changes and tied scores to take their own six-point lead with 2:30 remaining before the break.
Fisher cut that lead in half with a long range shot, but two charity shots pushed the UNO lead back to five. Gerber then cut that margin to two with her own trey only to see three more free throws leave the 'Dogs behind 37-32 at intermission.
The Mavericks built an eight-point margin over Truman just a minute and a half into the second stanza. However Perkins then took control, scoring nine points in the first five minutes of the half and sparking a 9-0 run for the Bulldogs that left Truman with a one-point lead by 14:45. The 'Dogs then came out on top of six lead changes and two tied scores, going ahead for good with 7:30 left to play. And for nearly the next six minutes Truman held UNO scoreless while the Bulldogs went on a 15-0 run to push their lead to 13 with two minutes left in the game. The 'Dogs hit 10-of-11 free throws in the final two minutes to enjoy a 15-point margin over the Mavs. UNO left the final score at 80-68 after making a jumper with 17 ticks left on the clock, the final bucket of the game.