Jan. 31, 2001
Bulldogs Travel to Central Missouri State
The Game: Truman State University Bulldogs (Mid-America Intercollegiate
Athletics Association/NCAA Division II) vs. Central Missouri State University
Jennies (NCAA DII/MIAA)
Date/Time: Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2001/5:30 pm
Location: Warrensburg, Mo.
Arena (Capacity): Multipurpose Building (8,500)
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, for the home games and Hank Janssen doing commentary on the road. The pregame show begins approximately 15 minutes before the game.
The campus station, KTRM 88.7, is tentatively scheduled to also broadcast the Feb. 10 game.
Team Line: Live KRES broadcast by calling 1-800-846-4700. Access Code: 6350
Truman Probable Starters
33-Ashlea Wood, Fr., F, 5-10 (1.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg)
24-Annie Westhoff, Fr., F, 6-0 (9.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg)
04-Keagan Thalin, Fr., G, 5-8 (4.1 ppg, 1.1 rpg)
10-Jessy Fletcher, Jr., G, 5-11(10.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
23-Emily Turnbull, Fr., G, 5-6 (2.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg)
Central Missouri State Probable Starters
23-Jena Shackelford, Fr., F, 5-9 (8.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg)
50-Stacy Butterworth, So., F, 5-10 (1.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg)
44-Katie Vaske, Jr., C, 6-1 (6.9 ppg. 6.6 rpg)
14-Blanche Tucker, Sr., G, 5-9 (9.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg
25-Lori Nichols, Jr., G, 5-7 (16.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
Truman (6-11 overall, 1-8 in the MIAA): The Truman women continue to rank first in the MIAA in rebounding offense (41.3 rpg). However, they rank eighth in the conference in scoring offense after struggling to a 6-11 record for the year, with one league win. The 'Dogs have lost seven straight and will be looking to snap that streak in Warrensburg tomorrow. A tough task for a team that has won just one game in the last 22 meetings in Warrensburg, and that has just four wins overall in the 44-game series with Central Missouri.
The 'Dogs slid past the Jennies in Warrensburg in their first match-up of last season on Jan. 5, 2000, winning 72-70. CMSU turned around and defeated the 'Dogs, 72-68, in Kirksville on Feb. 2, 2000, and came away with a 65-56 win earlier this year on Jan. 3 in Kirksville.
The Truman women are tied for ninth in the MIAA standings, two games out of the eighth spot which puts them in danger of not making the MIAA postseason tournament for the first time in three years. The 'Dogs will need to begin the second round of conference games on a good note if they are to return to postseason action.
The Bulldogs also lost seven straight games in 1996-97 in head coach Karin Nicholls' first season, and they lost eight straight in 1993-94 under head coach Jan Conner. In Conner's first season in 1992-93, Truman lost 12 straight as the Bulldogs went 2-24 for the year.
About the jennies (13-4 overall, 6-3 in the MIAA): Central Missouri is sitting in a three-way tie for third in the league standing this week, tying with Pittsburg State and Southwest Baptist with 6-3 records in the conference. CMSU is receiving votes for the WBCA top 25 poll this week and was picked to finish third in the MIAA coaches' preseason poll.
On Saturday, Emporia handed the Jennies a 70-46 scalding in Warrensburg. However, Central Missouri had beaten Southwest Baptist 70-61 prior to that game. The Jennies' other two MIAA losses were at Missouri Western 74-67 and at Washburn, 65-64.
Central Missouri registered other league wins over Truman 65-56, Pittsburg State 78-67, Northwest Missouri 66-60, Missouri-Rolla 57-54 and Missouri Southern, 69-58.
Junior guard Lori Nichols ranks tied for fourth among MIAA scoring leaders with 16.4 points per game, and leads the league in three-point field goals made (2.82 pg). She is also third in free throw percentage (.818), fourth in three point field goal percentage (.432), fifth in assists (4.29 apg) and second in assist/ turnover ratio (2.40).
Junior center Katie Vaske leads the Jennies with 6.6 rebounds a game to rank 12th in the MIAA this week, and is tied for sixth with Jennifer Fisher with 1.0 blocks a game.
Freshman forward Jena Shackelford led CMSU with 12 points vs. Emporia, while Nicole Cassmeyer grabbed 10 rebounds. Nichols was held to seven points, while Vaske had two rebounds.
The Coaches: Bulldog Head Coach John Sloop is in his first season as a collegiate head coach, but served five years as the assistant coach for the Truman men's team.
Scott Ballard has coached the CMSU women for five years, reaching a 115-46 record. His career record is 217-88 in 10 years. He holds a 6-3 record against Truman, winning four of the five games played in Warrensburg.
Bulldogs in the MIAA: Sophomore forward/center Jennifer Fisher (Fordland, Mo./Marshfield) is third in conference rebounding (8.6 rpg), tied for 20th in scoring (10.3 ppg) and tied for sixth in blocked shots (1.00 pg).
Junior center/forward Jennifer Perkins (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmund) is sixth in the conference with 15.1 points a game, tied for sixth in rebounding (7.6 rpg), fifth in field goal percentage (.529) and second in MIAA blocked shots (1.24 pg).
Junior guard/forward Jessy Fletcher (Atlanta, Mo.) is 10th in league rebounding (6.8 pg).
Truman vs. Pittsburg State: Freshman guard Ashlea Wood (Kirksville, Mo.) had the best game of her career and scored the Bulldogs' first four points against Pitt State. However the two teams would battle through 10 tied scores in the first half before Truman took a slim 39-38 lead at intermission.
PSU tied the score again just seconds into the second stanza with a free throw. The Gorillas out-scored the 'Dogs 14-4 in the first five minutes of the second half to take a 10-point lead. Truman cut that lead to four by the 13-minute mark following a 6-0 run in which Fletcher made a layup and free throw, and grabbed an offensive rebound and fed it to Fisher for the trey.
The Gussies answered with a 7-0 run to take their greatest lead of the game, 11 points, with 12 minutes to go.
Again the 'Dogs rallied out-scoring PSU 14-3 to tie the score at 63 with 8:16 left. Truman then took the lead on a layup by freshman guard/forward Annie Westhoff (Webster Groves, Mo.), but the Gorillas then made a pair of free throws to tie the score at 65. Wood then made a free throw to give Truman its last lead of the game, 66-65. That would also be the last point scored by the Bulldogs as PSU held the 'Dogs scoreless the last six-and-a-half minutes to register a 72-66 win in Kirksville.
Bits on the Bulldogs
40-Jennifer Fisher: Had a career-high with 25 points and five three-pointers vs. St. Joseph's (Ind.) on Nov. 24 ... leads the team in rebounding with 8.6 a game (146) and from the line, shooting .911 (41-of-45) ... scored in double figures in 11 games this year, including six double-doubles ... best rebounding game this year was vs. Rockhurst when she grabbed 14 boards ... already ranks fifth on the Truman career blocked shots list with 38 ... led the 'Dogs with 15 points vs. CMSU ... leads the team with 41 assists ... her 5-of-5 performance from long range in the St. Joseph's contest tied her with one other individual in the MIAA for the best single-game percentage (1.000) from beyond the arc so far this season, it is also tied for second with most made in the game in the league.
10-Jessy Fletcher: John Wood Community College Transfer ... only player to have started every game ... scored in double figures 10 times with three double-doubles ... had a senior college career high with 16 points vs. Missouri-Rolla on Jan. 24 and Missouri Western on Jan. 10, and grabbed a career-high of 14 rebounds vs. St. Joseph's ... third on the team with 10.2 points a game ... tied for the team season game high with six assists against St. Joseph's.
13-Robyn Gerber: Gerber has been hampered by a back injury and missed her first start and game of the year vs. Emporia last Saturday and also missed the UMR game ... is fifth in scoring on the team with 7.5 points a game ... has five games this year with double-digit scoring ... led the team with 15 points in Truman's first MIAA win over Missouri Southern on Jan. 6, and with 12 points in the team's first victory of the year at Quincy (Ill.) ... tied for the team season-high with six assists in the first Rockhurst encounter on Nov. 28 and an is second on the team for the year with with 36 helpers ... had the game-winning assist in the 50-48 win over Quincy.
35-Jennifer Perkins: The teams leading scorer (15.1 ppg), Perkins has charted 14 games with double-digit scoring, including four 20-plus efforts .... had a career-high and team season best with 26 points at Washburn on Jan. 8 ... has four double-doubles for the year in the games, most recently with 18 points and 10 boards vs. ESU on Jan. 20 ... has led the team in scoring in eight contests so far this year and tied for the team lead twice ... is currently 13th on the Bulldog career scoring leaders list with 805 points and is eighth in among all-time rebounders at Truman with 465 ... is third on the Truman list for career blocked shots with 50 ... made 10 field goals vs. Concordia and Washburn to tie for the team season-high ... scored the game-winning bucket in the team's first win in 2000-01 vs. Quincy.
Keagan Thalin: She has come off the bench in every game to average 4.1 points ... had her first double-digit scoring game vs. Nebraska-Omaha with 13 points and charted her second vs. Missouri Southern with 10 points ... charted career highs with four assists vs. MSSC and with 11-of-14 performance from the charity stripe vs. Nebraska-Omaha ... was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line against Missouri Southern ... her 11 free throws vs. UNO ties for second in the MIAA for most in a single-game this year.
11-Tessa Thurman: John Wood Community College Transfer ... leads the team with 23 long range buckets ... had a career high 14 points in the season-opener against Tampa and vs. Mt. Mercy ... also scored 11 points in the St. Joseph's and Missouri Southern contests to account for all of her double-digit scoring games this year ... made four treys against Tampa.
23-Emily Turnbull: Turnbull has played in every game and earned her first start against Emporia on Jan. 20 ... has 28 assists and averages 2.9 points a game ... had career highs with 12 points, seven free throws, 10 FT attempts and three rebounds against Missouri Western on Jan. 10.
24-Annie Westhoff: Garnered a starting role in the last 12 games ... fourth in team scoring (9.6 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg) ... had double-digit scoring efforts in eight games ... had a career-high and led the team with 21 points vs. Pittsburg on Saturday ... also led the team with 17 points vs. Misouri Western on Jan. 10 ... had her first double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds vs. St. Joseph's on Nov. 24 ... also had two blocked shots vs. St. Joseph's ... led the team with four steals vs. Mt. Mercy and three against Southwest Baptist and Emporia.
Ashlea Wood: Has come off the bench in 16 games this year and made her first career start against Pittsburg last weekend, charting career-highs with 10 points, four made field goals, eight field goal attempts, her first three-pointer and three assists ... had a career-high with eight rebounds against Missouri Western on Jan. 10 which tied for the team game high ... was 3-for-3 from the free throw line vs. Mt. Mercy.
Truman vs. Central Missouri on Jan. 3, 2001: The Bulldogs only lead came in the opening minutes of the game as junior guard Robyn Gerber (Affton, Mo./Lutheran South) began all scoring with a jumper in the first minute-and-a-half of action. Central Missouri tied the scored at 15:34 with a pair of free throws, the start of a 7-0 run for the Jennies. CMSU built a 10-point margin over the 'Dogs with 3:19 left in the first half and took a 30-23 lead at intermission.
In the second half, the Jennies again went ahead by 10 points by 16:44 in the second period and extended their lead to 14 points at 13:41, following a 10-2 run.
The Bulldogs got within four points of Central Missouri with 6:40 remaining in the game after going on a 10-2 run of their own. However the Jennies again gained back the momentum, building another 10-point lead with 1:13 to go in the game. Gerber cut the Jennies' lead to nine with a jumper with nine seconds left on the clock to make the final score 65-56 in CMSU's favor.
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