Feb. 17, 2009 - One of Truman’s longest-standing rivalries picks back up on Wednesday night, as the Bulldog women’s basketball team travels to Maryville to take on Northwest Missouri State. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs (6-18, 3-14 MIAA) have just three games remaining in the regular season and need to string together a batch of wins as well as get help to make the 2009 MIAA tournament (see next section for full description). Meanwhile, Northwest Missouri (7-16, 3-13) sits in nearly the exact same position as Truman and enters Wednesday’s match-up on a two-game losing streak.
Earlier this season, the Bulldogs picked up their first MIAA win of the season against the Bearcats, winning 72-68 in overtime in Pershing Arena. Five Bulldogs logged double-figures, led by freshman G Breanna Daniels’ 13 and junior G Laura Joya’s 12. Joya added 11 rebounds for a double-double.
MIAA TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK:
With just two weeks of games remaining, five squads are still in the hunt for the final two spots to Kansas City.
The Bulldogs (3-14 MIAA) currently find themselves at the bottom of that heap and need to receive help - all while handling their own business – to make the 2009 postseason tournament. Truman will have the chance to take care of both issues at once, as the ‘Dogs travel to Northwest Missouri (3-13) and Missouri Western (5-12) - the current eighth place team - this week. Northwest hosts Truman before traveling to Central Missouri (10-6) on Saturday, while the Griffons are idle in MIAA play until Saturday’s showdown with Truman.
Between the Griffons and green Bearcats are the purple Bearcats of SBU (4-12), who dropped a pair to the conference’s top two squads, Emporia (15-2) and Washburn (14-3), last week to fall into ninth place.
The only other squad not listed above that has yet to clinch is Fort Hays (5-11), who sit in the driver’s seat in seventh as of now and will have a chance to clinch at home this week with games against SBU and Missouri Southern.
Six teams - ESU, WU, PSU, MSSU, UCM and Nebraska-Omaha (8-8) - have already punched their tickets to the 2009 MIAA tournament, which runs March 6-8 for the women at Municipal Auditorium in KC.
SERIES INFO:
Northwest Missouri leads the all-time series 46-12, with the Bearcats holding a 22-6 edge both in Maryville and in Kirksville, while adding a 2-0 neutral-site mark.
Although the Bulldogs won earlier this season in Pershing Arena, it’s been six years since a Bulldog bunch has found success in Bearcat Arena, as the last Truman win in Maryville came on Feb. 5, 2003 - a 74-72 win.
MEET THE COACHES:
Michael Smith is in his first season with the Bulldogs after spending time as an assistant coach at Arkansas-Little Rock and a head coach at Moberly Area Community College. He has a 108-52 (.675) career head coaching record and is 6-18 in his first season at Truman.
Smith is assisted by Taira Roth, who is also in her first season at Truman. Roth came to Truman after working in the same position at Lake Superior (Mich.) State.
Gene Steinmeyer is the head coach of the Bearcats, and he is 138-143 in his 10th season at Northwest Missouri State. He is in his 24th season as a collegiate head coach and sport a career 498-284 record.
MUELLER MOVES UP REBOUND CHARTS:
With eight rebounds against Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday afternoon, senior F Georgia Mueller moved into third place on Truman’s all-time rebounding chart and ninth on the MIAA’s all-time leaderboard after reaching 853 for her career. She is just one of two Truman players in program history to pass 1,800 points and 800 rebounds (1,832 points, 853 rebounds).
While second place on Truman’s rebounding list is out of reach (Carol Jarrard - 1,084), Mueller can still move into eighth on the MIAA’s chart with just three more rebounds. Rachel Matakas (UCM, 1993-1996) currently holds the No. 8 spot with 855 career boards.
If Mueller is to reach the MIAA’s top-10 in scoring by the end of the regular season, she would need a trio of phenomenal performances, as she would need to average more than 27 points in each of the final three regular season games to pass Emily Bloss’ (ESU, 1997-2001) career total of 1,915.
The 5-foot-11 senior from Springfield, Ill., is also just seven blocks from reaching 200 for her career and is just 12 assists behind Katie Fowler (2004-2008) for eighth all-time at Truman.
DANIELS MAKING CASE FOR MIAA FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
Entering this week’s play, freshman G Breanna Daniels ranked third amongst all MIAA freshmen in scoring at 8.8 points per game. Daniels, from Hollister, Mo., is averaging a shade less than 10 points per game in MIAA play and has pulled down 3.5 rebounds per game for the full season.
She currently sits second on the Bulldog squad with a 43% field goal mark and has had 12 double-digit scoring performances this season. Her 16 made three-pointers in conference play is second on the team, one behind junior G Julie Guinn’s 17.
UP NEXT:
The Bulldogs head to Missouri Western for a Saturday night showdown with the Griffons on Feb. 21.
Truman will then be idle for a full week before wrapping up the regular season with a Saturday afternoon home game against Central Missouri on Feb. 28 at 1:00 p.m. The Bulldogs will celebrate Senior Day that afternoon in Pershing Arena and will recognize Georgia Mueller and Sarah Gordon between the women’s and men’s games.