Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level. This week’s featured team is the 2014 Truman State women’s basketball squad.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 21: 2014 Truman State Women’s Basketball
SEASON SUMMARY
The 2014 Truman State women’s basketball team made its first season as a member of the GLVC a memorable one with a 22-9 overall record, including 12-6 in league play, and a run in the postseason tournament to win the Conference title. The Bulldogs opened the season with a sweep over Northwest Missouri and Lincoln (Mo.) to win the Northwest Missouri Tournament, and then proceeded to go 3-1 in non-conference play before dropping its first league contest at rival Quincy, 79-75. In fact, Truman dropped its second GLVC game at the turn of the New Year, falling 98-72 at Lewis. The Bulldogs would then go on to win eight straight league contests before suffering a setback to No. 7 Drury, 93-86. Home wins over Southern Indiana and Bellarmine would follow, but the Bulldogs slipped in the home stretch of the Conference slate with just two wins in their final five games, highlighted by a 70-59 home win in the regular-season finale over 16
th-ranked Quincy. Truman garnered the No. 7 seed in the 12-team GLVC Championship Tournament, which scored the Bulldogs a first-round home game over No. 10 William Jewell. Following their 70-58 win over the Cardinals, the Bulldogs made the journey to the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, where they continued their magical postseason run under first-year head coach Amy Eagan. An 84-70 win over No. 2 Lewis in the quarterfinals and a 68-54 victory over No. 3 Quincy in the semis, put the Bulldogs in the title game against No. 8 Maryville. With a 58-45 win over the Saints, Truman secured its first GLVC title and the coveted bid to the NCAA Midwest Regional. Bianca Szafarowicz, Nicole Gloor and Amy Briggs were named to the All-Tournament Team. With the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Regional, Truman was pitted against top-seed and host Drury. The GLVC Champions pushed the eventual NCAA Elite Eight-bound Panthers to overtime before falling in the regional opener, 74-68.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Amy Briggs
- Named to the GLVC All-Tournament Team
- All-GLVC First Team
- Led team with 13.4 points and 3.7 assists per game
Bianca Szafarowicz
- Named to the GLVC All-Tournament Team
- Averaged 12.1 points and team-high 7.0 rebounds per game
Nicole Gloor
- Named to the GLVC All-Tournament Team
- Averaged 12.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game
Allie Norton
- All-GLVC Second Team
- All-GLVC First Team (2015)
- Averaged 12.8 points, 3.4 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game
LASTING LEGACY
The 2013-14 campaign marked a lot of firsts for Truman under the watch of new mentor Amy Eagan. The Bulldogs captured the school’s first-ever GLVC Championship in any sport, tied the school record with both 12 league wins and 22 overall victories, and marked the first time in school history that the program had back-to-back 20-win campaigns. Truman, which extended its home-court winning streak to a record 23 games and won eight straight during the month of January, returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. The Bulldogs scored the second-most points in school history with 2,444 and had the fourth-best scoring average at 78.8 points per game. Five Bulldogs, led by Amy Briggs’ 13.4 points per game, averaged in double-figure scoring with the senior breaking the individual single-season three-point record with 80 and was named first-team All-GLVC. Allie Norton was a second-team All-Conference selection and was right behind Briggs in three-point sharpshooting. Norton connected on 71 three-pointers and the team shattered the school record with 235 treys and was fourth in three-point shooting percentage at 39.0 percent. At the free throw line, Truman was also spectacular with eight games registering in the single-season top 10 in free throws made, and the team was first in season free throws made (645), free throws attempted (828) and first in free throw percentage at 77.9 percent. At the conclusion of the 2013-14 season, Truman received votes outside the top 25. During the previous year, the Bulldogs had picked up their first-ever national ranking and were recognized over three weeks of the 2012-13 campaign. Nearly three weeks ago on Jan. 2, 2019, Truman made its return to the WBCA Top 25 – its first national ranking as a GLVC member. Just three days later, Eagan earned her 100th victory at Truman, and five days after that became the school’s all-time winningest coach.