Feb. 13, 2009 - Only four games remain in the 2008-09 regular season, and the Truman women’s basketball team finds itself looking for a third straight win at Pershing Arena on “Pink Zone” Saturday against Nebraska-Omaha. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m.
The Bulldogs (6-17, 3-13 MIAA) have clawed their way back into MIAA postseason contention with back-to-back wins against Southwest Baptist and Fort Hays State this past week. The final game of the current three-game homestand features the UNO Mavericks (11-10, 7-8 MIAA), who are just a win away from clinching their own berth in the MIAA tournament.
Earlier this season, senior Georgia Mueller came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points, but the Bulldogs couldn’t close to within three after falling behind by nine at the break and fell 68-62 in Omaha. The Bulldogs had a look at three late, but senior Eli Medina’s shot grazed off the side of the rim to end Truman’s chance at a last-second rally.
Mueller finished as the lone Bulldog in double-figures with 21 on five-of-15 shooting and a perfect 11-for-11 effort from the stripe. Freshman Erin Mayes chipped in nine points and a career-high eight rebounds, while junior Laura Joya added eight points on a perfect night from the field.
MIAA TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK:
On the heels of a six-game skid, the Bulldogs (3-13 MIAA) have posted back-to-back wins to pull to within just a game and a half of Southwest Baptist (4-11 MIAA), who currently holds a slim grip on the No. 8 spot.
Sandwiched between the Bulldogs and purple Bearcats (who host Washburn (13-3) on Saturday) are in-state rivals Missouri Western (4-12) and Northwest Missouri (3-12). Those two squads face off on Saturday in St. Joseph with the green Bearcats looking for the season sweep.
Truman’s Saturday opponent, UNO (7-8), needs just one more win to stamp its ticket to Kansas City, as the Mavs hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Missouri Western. The Omaha crew are two games ahead of Fort Hays State (5-10) who, after a 19th straight road loss dating back to the 2006-07 season on Thursday night in Kirksville, find themselves in a precarious situation with road games at Central Missouri (9-6), Pittsburg State (12-4) and Emporia State (14-2) remaining.
Five teams - ESU, WU, PSU, Missouri Southern (11-4) and UCM - have already clinched berths to the 2009 MIAA tournament, which runs March 6-8 for the women at Municipal Auditorium in KC.
SERIES INFO:
Nebraska-Omaha leads the limited all-time series 3-1, with the two squads splitting the two games played in Kirksville. It’s been eight years since the teams last met in Kirksville, with the Bulldogs taking an 80-68 win on Dec. 17, 2000 in Pershing Arena.
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 108-51 (.679) career head coaching record and is 6-17 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.
Patty Patton-Shearer is the head coach of the Mavericks, and she is 78-59 in her fifth season at Nebraska- Omaha. She is in her 9th season as a collegiate head coach and has a career 138-108 record.
PACK THE SHADES ON SATURDAY:
As part of the 2009 “Pink Zone” festivities, both Truman and UNO will be sporting jersey differences for the home fans in Pershing Arena. The Mavericks will be wearing pink jerseys that were used at a prior breast cancer awareness game, while Truman will be wearing their road purples to off-set the light pink of UNO.
Game officials will also be using pink whistles as part of the NCAA initiative to support breast cancer awareness.
THURSDAY NIGHT FIRSTS:
Thursday night’s game against Fort Hays marked a pair of firsts for the Bulldogs in the 2008-09 season, as the squad picked up a win for the first time when scoring less than 60 points. Also, the 59-54 home win marked the first win for the purple and white when being out-rebounded, as Truman was previously 0-10 in both situations prior to Thursday night.
SEALING IT AT THE STRIPE:
In Truman’s six wins this season, the squad is connecting on 77.3% of its free throws in the final five minutes (and overtime). That’s up from the season five-minute-and-less mark of 69.5% as well as the full season average of 74.9%.
The Bulldogs remain the MIAA’s top free throw shooting team in conference-only games, having hit 79.5% (182-of-229) of its opportunities. Truman converted 18-of-21 free throws on Thursday night against Fort Hays State.
MUELLER NAMED CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT:
Last Thursday, forward Georgia Mueller was named to the ESPN The Magazine College Division Academic All-District second-team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). It was her second career second-team all-district selection after receiving the same honor last season. The 5-foot-11 senior is majoring in Mathematics with minors in Biology and Statistical Methods. She currently holds a 3.51 GPA and was just one of four MIAA players to make one of three all-district teams.
And, as always, a full “Mueller Watch” chart is available in the full PDF notes version of this release detailing her climb up both Truman’s and the MIAA’s points, field goal, assists, blocks and games played categories.
UP NEXT:
After wrapping up the current three-game homestand, Truman will hit the road for the final two times in the regular season with a pair of critical contests at Northwest Missouri (Wednesday, Feb. 18) and Missouri Western (Saturday, Feb. 21) next week.