SLIAC Weekly Release - March 5

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

Gorloks To Face Titans In Division III First Round (March 3, 2014)
The Webster University men's basketball team will face the host Illinois Wesleyan Titans at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 7, in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Division III Basketball Championships in Bloomington, IL. The Gorloks enter the NCAAs with a 20-7 record after winning the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, upsetting host Spalding University, 55-51, in the SLIAC final on March 1....MORE

Lady Eagles Earn First NCAA Tournament Appearance (March 3, 2014)
The Spalding Lady Eagles basketball team will travel to Rhodes College in Memphis, Tn. for the 2014 NCAA Division III First and Second Round. SU will face off against site host No. 19 Rhodes in their first-round game on Friday, March 7; game times have not been determined....MORE

SLIAC Announce 2013-14 Winter All-Academic Team (March 4, 2014)
The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has announced the members of the 2013-14 Winter All-Academic team. A total of 43 student-athletes were named to the team, which consisted of members from both men's and women's basketball programs....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 2013-14 Players of the Week. For this week's Player of the Week release - HERE

Baseball- (Hitter) Rob Berger, Fontbonne University
              (Pitcher) Scott Ross, Principia College
Softball-  (Hitter) Kelsey McDowell, Spalding University

Baseball l Softball

SLIAC STANDINGS

AROUND THE SLIAC

Blackburn senior forward Shelby Smith was named Second Team All-Conference this season after averaging a team best 16.3 points per game and grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game. Smith also led the team in field-goal percentage at 39.7 percent and blocked shots.

Eureka College was knocked out of the SLIAC Tournament in a loss to Webster in the semi-finals. Forwards Caty Eeten and Kelsey Shoemake earned All-Conference honors with Eeten picking up First Team marks and Shoemake being named Second Team.

Fontbonne men's basketball player Bryan DeGeare was named the 2013-14 Newcomer of the Year. DeGeare averaged 10.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this season as a freshman. He was second in scoring among first year players and third in rebounds.

The Greenville men's basketball team placed two players on the SLIAC All-Conference Second Team; Ron Harris and Alex Mumphard. On the women's side Emily Gundy was named Second Team and Coley Baker earned Honorable Mention honors.

The Iowa Wesleyan women's basketball won the SLIAC regular season title and along the way, guard Karla Vietinghoff picked up the Conference Player of the Year award. The Tigers, not eligible due to their transition, earned the top seed in the NJCAAA National Tournament where they fell to Concordia College-Selma in the first-round.

The MacMurray men's basketball team saw their season come to a close in a loss to Webster in the semi-finals of the SLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament. Senior forward Brady Slagle was named the 2013-14 SLIAC Player of the Year. Slagle averaged 15.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game and was the only player in the SLIAC this season to rank in the top five in all three categories.

Principia women's basketball forward Rachel Perea was named the 2013-14 SLIAC Women's Basketball Newcomer of the Year. Perea averaged 12.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while ranking in the top five in the conference in free-throw shooting and steals.

The Spalding University women's basketball team captured their first ever SLIAC Tournament title, advancing to the NCAA Division III National Tournament for the first time in program history. The Lady Eagles defeated Webster 60-58 in the SLIAC Championship game. Forward Jessica Guy earned Tournament MVP honors with a 23 point and 24 rebound effort in the championship game.

The Webster University men's basketball team won their second SLIAC Tournament title with a 55-51 win over Spalding. The Gorloks were led by Kevin Miller, who was named Tournament MVP, with 19 poits and 13 rebounds. The Gorloks will face Illinois Wesleyan in the first round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

Westminster senior basketbal players Leigh Ann Lutz and Joe James finished their careers earning All-Conference honors. Lutz was named Women's Basketball First Team All-Conference while James picked up First Team honors in Men's Basketball.

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 participate in our Social Media fun each week with Trivia Tuesday, Throwback Thursday and Feature Friday.

Don't forget you can watch this past weeken's Tournament Championship Highlight Videos.
Men's Basketball Highlight Video and Interviews - HERE
Women's Basketball Highlight Video and Interviews - HERE

Friday's are Feature Friday's where we will get to know our current SLIAC Student-Athletes through a series of video interviews. This past week's Feature Friday was with Alex Mumphard, a men's basketball player, from Greenville College. Watch HERE