– Katie Jasekcas became the 22nd Truman State Women’s Basketball player to score 1,000 career points and Hannah Belanger scored a career-high 34 points on eight three-pointers in the Bulldogs 76-68 road victory over the University of Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (2-0) threatened to run away with the game in the first as Truman scored the final 14 points of the quarter and led 19-6 with Belanger knocking down three early treys.
The Greyhounds took advantage of some woeful early free throw shooting trouble by the Bulldogs and a spark from their bench to claw their way back with a 13-0 run in the second quarter. That trimmed a 17-point lead down to five at the half 31-26. Sixteen of the 26 first half points by UINDY were scored by their reserves while Truman went 6-of-13 from the line.
UINDY pulled even with 8:46 to play at 52 apiece but Jaseckas dropped in a three on Truman’s next possession and Katey Klucking hit from distance after two misses by the Greyhounds to extend the lead back out to six at 58-52.
Truman then avenged their early charity stripe issues and knocked down all 10 attempts in the final three minutes to pull out the win.
Belanger, at one point knocked down seven of eight three point tries, finished with eight total triples on 11 attempts to tie for third all-time in a Bulldog single game with Rachel Edmundson, Laura Cooper and Courtney Strait. Her 34 points were the most by a Bulldog in 339 games when Georgia Mueller scored 34 against Pittsburg (Kan.) State in March of 2008. Belanger finished with six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 40 minutes of work.
Jaseckas finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds for her second straight double-double. It was her ninth career 20-point game and 15th career double-double. She also took over the third spot in career blocks with two on the afternoon for 108.
The Bulldogs shot 52.3% for the game and 54.2% from three going 13-of-24. They finished 17-of-29 (58.6%) from the foul line with the strong finish late to close things out.
UINDY got 16 points from reserve Lauren With while Mickey Sasson and Taylor Drury each added 10 for the Greyhounds.
Truman is next scheduled to play Saturday at 1 p.m. against the University of Missouri-St. Louis.