SLIAC Weekly Release - January 25

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

HEADLINES

Feature Friday with Taylor Paulin (January 20, 2017)
In this week's Feature Friday we spoke with Greenville College women's basketball player Taylor Paulin. Hear about Taylor's volunteer trip to Panama and what it was like to make the NCAA tournament last year......MORE

Westminster's Mitchell Reaches Coaching Milestone (January 22, 2017)
Westminster College Head Coach Matt Mitchell earns win number 250 in the 60-52 conference victory over Fontbonne University.....MORE

SLIAC Game of the Week: Westminster at Greenville (January 24, 2017)
This week's SLIAC Game of the Week is between Greenville College and Westminster College, two teams coming in with winning streaks and looking to secure their position in the conference standings. The two teams enter the game separated by just half a game in the standings.....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 2016-17 Players of the Week. For this week's Player of the Week release - HERE

Men's Basketball l Women's Basketball

SLIAC WINTER STANDINGS

AROUND THE SLIAC

	The Blackburn College Men's Basketball Program recently hosted members of the Carlinville Youth Basketball Feeder Program to play at halftime of one of their games.  The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade teams all took part. Blackburn is currently 8-9 overall and 5-5 in SLIAC play. They are looking to make their first SLIAC Tournament since 2006. For the full story click HERE
	Did you know that Eureka sophomore guard Shea Feehan leads NCAA Division III in free throws made with 136 and is second in points per game at 28.8 ppg. Eureka is currently 11-5 overall and in fifth place in the SLIAC standings. They host Spalding on Thursday night and travel to Principia on Saturday in a pair of conference games.
	The Fontbonne softball team spent time this past semester entertaining at the Community Action Agency of St. Louis County's fairs. The event included face painting, crafts, and farm animals; making it a fun and educational experience. For more information on CAASTL or the Griffins volunteer experience click HERE
	The Greenville men's basketball team is currently 12-4 overall and in third place in the SLIAC standings as they look to make the SLIAC Tournament. They remain the nation's top scoring team at 131.9 points per game and have knocked down an astounding 270 three-pointers this season, second most in Division III. The Panthers will face Westminster on Wednesday night before hosting MacMurray on Saturday.
	Iowa Wesleyan has announced the hiring of Chris Early as the new head coach of the Women's Soccer program. Early is a nine year veteran of coaching, most recently serving as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Iowa. He has also spent time with Iowa Soccer Association, Iowa City Alliance Soccer Club, and Northwestern State University. Early is a graduate of the University of Iowa. For full story click HERE
	The MacMurray volleyball team recently held their annual awards banquet, recognizing the 2016 team and season. Emily Lascody and Olivia Wall were named Offensive Co-MVP while Abby Shockley was named Defensive MVP. Janelle Benson received the Hustle Award while Morgan Heinz was named SLIAC Sportsmanship Team and Reagan Witherall was awarded the Coaches Choice award.
	The Principia men's basketball team has a chance to have arguably the best season in program history. They are currently 5-10 overall and 4-6 in the SLIAC. Since joining the conference the Panthers most conference wins in a season is 7, achieved in both the 2002-03 and 2004-05 seasons. In fact including those two seasons there have been only five seasons in program history in which they have totaled at least five conference wins in a season.
	The Spalding men's basketball team defeated Principia 75-71 last Saturday, giving them back to back wins for the first time this season. The Golden Eagles are now 3-15 overall and 2-8 in conference play. They put their winning streak on the line when they are on the road against Eureka on Thursday and Iowa Wesleyan on Saturday.
	The Webster University men's basketball team held off a late push from Principia on Tuesday night for a 70-68 win. The Gorloks led 37-24 at halftime but the game wound up tied at 60-60 with just over three-minutes remaining in the game. After quick back to back baskets by Tony Jones and C.J. Moore, Xavier Dortch helped seal the win for Webster by knocking down a pair of free-throws with 27-seconds on the clock.
	The Westminster men's basketball team is on a seven game winning streak, with a 12-4 overall record and a 8-1 record in the SLIAC. The Blue Jays are the defending SLIAC Tournament champions and currently sit in first place in the standings. They host Greenville on Wednesday night and will head to Webster on Saturday.

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 platforms. You can follow us on Twitter (@sliac) HERE , Facebook (St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) HERE , or on Instagram (@SLIAC) Don't forget to share your game day photos from around the conference by using #SLIACtion on your tweets.

Be sure to check out the SLIAC Feature Friday interview series. Each Friday we will feature interviews with student-athletes, coaches, and administrators from around the SLIAC. You can also view our previous feature videos, where you can get to know our student-athletes outside of athletics and get an idea of what it is like to be a NCAA Division III student-athlete, as well as conference tournament highlight videos.