Joyce Named Freshman of The Year, Weltha Earns Third-Straight First-Team Honors

Molly Joyce was voted the Freshman of the Year and Ellie Weltha earned up her third-straight first-team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference honor.
 
Joyce was voted to the all-freshman team and then was selected the league’s Freshman of the Year. In conference games, Joyce led all league freshmen in points (11.9) and field goals made (93) while finishing second in steals (25) and rebounds per game (3.8).
 
She was inserted into the starting lineup Jan. 18 and scored in double figures in nine games with four 20+ point games during the final 14 games of the season. Her single-game high was 24 points scored twice against Southwest Baptist.
 
Weltha becomes only the fifth Bulldog to earn all-league honors for four seasons and joins former teammate Hannah Belanger as the only other three-time first-team selection. She scored in double figures in all but two games this past season and recorded 10 double-doubles. Weltha averaged 17.7 points per game and 8.7 rebounds ranking third in scoring and fourth in overall rebounding in the conference.
 
Spanning the most games played by any Bulldog women’s basketball player at 127 games and 109 starts, Weltha averaged 13.3 points for her career and set a new school record for field goal percentage at 56.3%. Her 1,686 points scored sits her fourth on the all-time scoring list at Truman and her 1,100 rebounds places her second all-time.
 
Kaitlyn Patke was the Bulldogs’ selection for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award.