SLIAC Weekly Release - Jan. 21

This week in the SLIAC is a weekly review of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. It recaps the prior weeks results and highlights upcoming events. You can also find the latest standings, statistics, schedules and awards.

HEADLINES

SLIAC Game of the Week: Eureka at Fontbonne - Men's Basketball (January 20, 2015)
This week's SLIAC Game of the Week pits two teams looking to position themselves for a men's basketball conference tournament appearance when Eureka College and Fontbonne University face each other on Saturday.....MORE

Webster Baseball Picked 8th In D3Baseball.com Preseason Poll (January 21, 2015)
The Webster University baseball team has been picked 8th in the 2015 D3baseball.com pre-season poll.  The Gorloks received 375 points in the poll, finishing just ahead of regional rival Concordia University-Chicago. Defending NCAA III Champion Wisconsin-Whitewater was picked first in the poll.....MORE

Eureka's Shoemake Joins Red Devil Elite (January 21, 2015)
Eureka College senior forward Kelsey Shoemake hit the second of two free throws for her 1,000th career point with 16:46 left in the first half of Wednesday's game, becoming the 15th Red Devil to score 1,000 points in a career.....MORE

SLIAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

The SLIAC Players of the Week are honored for their performances during the week. Click on the sport link below to see the full list of 2014-15 Players of the Week. For this week's Player of the Week release - HERE

Men's Basketball- Clayton Whitlock, MacMurray College
Women's Basketball- Kayla Styles, Spalding University

Men's Basketball l Women's Basketball

SLIAC WINTER STANDINGS

AROUND THE SLIAC

Although the Blackburn women's basketball team has struggled this season, senior forward Briana Rae has been a bright spot for the Beavers. Rae is leading the conference in scoring, at 20.1 points per game. She is also averaging a team high 12.3 rebounds per game, second in the league, and has 12 double-double's this season.

The Eureka women's basketball team is currently on a three game winning streak, the second longest active winning streak in the SLIAC and their longest winning streak this season. After going 3-3 in the first six conference games the Red Devils have picked up wins over Principia, Blackburn, and MacMurray to move to 6-3 in conference play and fourth place in the standings.

The Fontbonne men's basketball team snapped a four game losing streak with a 67-60 win over Westminster. The Griffins were led by Evan Johnson's 17 points; highlighted by a three mid-way through the second-half to give Fontbonne the lead for good. Blake Welch added 10 points for Fontbonne including scoring his team's final four points of the game.

After starting league play by winning six of their first seven games the Greenville men's basketball team have dropped two straight. The Panthers fell to MacMurray and Spalding, the first and second place teams in the league, by just a combined eight points. The Panthers will look to get back into the win column as they host Iowa Wesleyan on Saturday.

The Iowa Wesleyan men's basketball team continued their recent trend of following a loss with a win. For the third consecutive time the Tigers responded to a loss in their previous game with a win. The Tigers most recently defeated Lincoln Christian 80-52 with Chris Fowler leading the way with 16 points, six rebounds, and six steals. The Tigers are currently 7-8 overall and 3-6 in the SLIAC.

The Highlanders men's basketball team continued their hot streak with a 66-61 win over Eureka on Wednesday night to extend their winning streak to six games. The Highlanders have not lost yet in the New Year and with their current winning streak have jumped into second place in the SLIAC standings.

Principia sophomore guard Rachel Perea has been a consistent player for the Panthers all season long averaging 14.0 points and 8.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.4 steals per game this season. She has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and leads her team in scoring, assists, and steals while also leading the SLIAC in free-throw percentage with an 89.1 mark.

The Spalding men's basketball team extended their winning streak to seven games with a 72-70 last second win over Greenville on Wednesday. The Golden Eagles Renaldo Moore hit the game-winning shot as time expired to keep the SLIAC's longest active winning streak alive. Spalding now heads out for four straight road contests.

The Webster women's basketball team snapped their six game losing streak last week with a win on Saturday over Fontbonne. The Gorloks then picked up their first back to back wins since November when they defeated Blackburn on Wednesday. Webster is now 4-5 in the SLIAC and 7-9 overall.

Westminster senior guard Brandon Moore continues to be the Blue Jays go to player, leading the team in scoring this season at 12.3 points per game and is tied for the best three-point percentage in the league with a 45-percent clip. Moore has knocked down a three in all but two games this season and four times has hit at least four three's in a game.

THIS WEEK'S SLIAC SCHEDULE

To see a complete schedule of this week's SLIAC action click HERE

KEEP UP WITH THE SLIAC ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Be sure to keep up with the SLIAC using various social media tools. You can follow us on Twitter (@sliac) HERE or Facebook (St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) HERE

Be sure to check out the SLIAC You Tube Channel. There you will find our weekly Feature Friday series where we talk with student-athletes from around the conference and help you get to know them outside of athletics and give you an idea of what it is like to be a NCAA Division III student-athlete. In our latest episode we followed Jesse Edwards, a men's cross country runner from Westminster College. Watch HERE