Feb. 1, 2009
EMPORIA, KAN. – The Truman women’s basketball team had Emporia State on their heels late in the second half for the second time this season, but the nation’s No. 4 team slipped away with a 67-58 home win on Sunday afternoon.
Truman (4-16, 1-12 MIAA) held the conference’s top offensive team to their lowest point total of the 2008-09 campaign. The 67 points scored was more than 20 points below ESU’s season average, as the fourth-ranked Lady Hornets (18-2, 12-1 MIAA) relied on a 10-point burst by Andrea Leiker to pull away from the Bulldog women on Super Bowl Sunday.
The Bulldogs trailed 40-29 at the break but came out of the intermission firing to close the gap to 42-40 just three and a half minutes into the second half. Truman stayed within three of Emporia at 55-52 with 6:17 remaining in the ballgame before Leiker hit back-to-back three-pointers, converted a lay-up on a fastbreak and drained a pair of free throws to push the margin back to double-figures with 3:36 left on the clock.
Truman shot 38% (23-of-61) from the field and hit 77% (10-of-13) from the free throw line but struggled from long-range by hitting just two-of-14 three-point attempts. The Bulldogs and Lady Hornets each pulled down 32 rebounds, but Truman controlled the results on the offensive glass, 11-6. Truman also won the turnover battle, forcing ESU into five additional turnovers while picking up 15 steals to tie a season-high.
Senior Georgia Mueller matched her season average with 16 points to lead all players and also pulled down six rebounds. Mueller is now just three rebounds away from the MIAA’s all-time top-ten list, as she trails Emily Bloss’ (1997-2001) career mark of 823.
Sophomore Malorie Kiecker connected for 15 points, and junior Laura Joya fell just shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Joya also added five steals and shot 50% from the field.
Emporia State hit 47% (24-of-49) of its field goal attempts and were led offensively by Leiker’s 14 points. Sophia Lenard added 13 points and six assists.
The Bulldogs wrap up a two-game road trip to the Kansas Turnpike with a Wednesday night contest at No. 11 Washburn University. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. The ’Dogs then return home for three straight – starting Saturday, Feb. 7 against Southwest Baptist.
Additional Notes:
- Georgia Mueller moved into a tie for 9th place on Truman’s all-time assist list. She is now tied with Denise Stone (1977-1981) with 226 career assists and is just 22 behind recent-graduate Katie Fowler (2004-2008) for 8th place.
- Mueller has now logged double-figure scoring in 18 of Truman’s 20 games this season.
- Laura Joya has now led Truman in rebounding eight times this season – a team-best.
- Malorie Kiecker’s 20 field goal attempts are a 2008-2009 team-high for the Bulldogs (prev: 19 by Mueller at Lincoln on Dec. 17, 2008).
- The 49 ESU field goal attempts are the fewest taken by an opponent against Truman this season (prev: 51 by William Woods on Nov. 29, 2008).