Posted: Dec 23, 2015

SLIAC Weekly Release - December 23

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
Webster's Mess Named NSCAA Scholar All-American (December 17 2015)
Webster's Ashley Mess was named a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) 2015 Scholar All-American, becoming the first women's soccer player in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference history to earn the distinction.....MORE

Feature Friday with Blackburn's Ugo Pierantoni (December 18, 2015)
This week we sat down with Blackburn College men's basketball player Ugo Pierantoni. Find out how Ugo found his way from New Zealand to Carlinville.....MORE

Principia's Johnson Named D3 Women's Basketball Hero of the Week (December 23, 2015)
Principia College's Kara Johnson was named the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Hero of the Week by Hero Sports.....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 2015-16 Players of the Week. For this week's Player of the Week release - HERE

Men's Basketball		Hunter Ward	Webster University
Women's Basketball		Brianna Markusic	MacMurray College

Men's Basketball l Women's Basketball

SLIAC WINTER STANDINGS

MEN'S BASKETBALL			WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
School	SLIAC	Overall	School	SLIAC	Overall
Westminster	3-0	3-3	Iowa Wesleyan	3-0	7-1
Webster	2-0	5-4	Spalding	2-1	8-1
Iowa Wesleyan	2-1	6-3	Westminster	2-1	6-3
MacMurray	2-1	5-5	Greenville	2-1	6-4
Eureka	1-1	3-6	Webster	1-1	3-5
Fontbonne	1-2	3-7	Eureka	1-1	1-6
Spalding	1-2	2-7	Principia	1-2	1-5
Blackburn	1-2	2-8	Fontbonne	1-2	1-7
Greenville	1-2	2-8	Blackburn	1-2	1-8
Principia	0-3	3-4	MacMurray	0-3	0-10

AROUND THE SLIAC

The Blackburn men's basketball team picked up their second win of the season in thrilling fashion, with a 73-69 come from behind win over Rose-Hulman last weekend. The Beavers trailed by five at halftime and as many as 15 points in the game before rallying for the win. The Beavers forced 18 turnovers with DeAndre Manuel pacing the offense with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Did you know that Eureka guard Kerrigan Dura leads all NCAA women's basketball players, across all levels, in assist-to-turnover ratio. Dura, a sophomore from Brimfield, Ill., has 28 assists and just three turnovers this season for a ratio of over 9:1. Dura is averaging 3.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game this season and is seventh in the SLIAC in total assists.

The Fontbonne men's basketball team came up just short against nationally ranked Washington University-St. Louis. The Griffins trailed by just two at halftime and were tied at 40-40 with 14:38 remaining before the Bears were able to pull away for a 74-69 win. Fontbonne was led by Kody Ettingers, who scored a career high 32 points including knocking down six of his nine three-point attempts.

The Greenville men's basketball team is playing an up tempo style this season and that style has placed them among the NCAA national leaders in several categories. The Panthers currently lead NCAA Division III in scoring (110.2 ppg), steals (17.1) and turnovers forced (28.0). They are also in the top ten in three-point field goals made, free-throw attempts, and turnover margin.

The Tigers men's basketball team had their five game winning streak snapped in their last outing, a 94-82 loss to Westminster. Iowa Wesleyan is currently 6-3 overall this season and are 2-1 in the SLIAC. They do not return to action until January 2 when they return to conference play with a game against Principia. The Tigers are led by Chris Fowler, who is third in the conference at 19.9 points per game while also dishing out a league high 65 assists.

MacMurray freshman Brianna Markusic was named the SLIAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week after averaging a double-double through three games last week. Markusic averaged 21.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.3 blocks, and 2.3 steals per game. She had two 20-point games including a 25 point outing against Sewanee, in which she also grabbed a career high 17 rebounds.

Principia's Kara Johnson was named the D3 Women's Basketball Hero of the Week by Hero Sports. Johnson beat out nine other players, receiving 55-percent of the votes, which included nearly 600 votes nation wide. Johnson was honored for her 37 point effort against MacMurray and will be included by Hero Sports for their end of the year Legend of the Year award, which looks at all top weekly performers.

The Spalding women's basketball team won their fifth straight game as they swept a pair of games while in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Golden Eagles defeated Neumann 62-56 behind 18 points from Mackenzie Myers. They closed out their trip with a 69-56 win over Agnes Scott as Alex Martin netted 14 points. Spalding is now 8-1 overall this season and will face Transylvania on December 30 in a road contest.

The Webster men's basketball team had a successful trip to Florida, picking up a pair of wins in the Cruzin Classic in Ft. Lauderdale. The Gorloks started their trip with a 71-63 win over Trinity Baptist with Hunter Ward scoring a game-high 26 points. The Gorloks then rallied for a 60-47 win over Ave Maria with Ward again leading the way, this time with a team high 19 points. The Gorloks improve to 5-4 overall.

The Blue Jays women's basketball team tallied a pair of wins last weekend in the St. Pete Classic. The Blue Jays topped Wesley 71-51 behind a double-double from Kasey Gatson, with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Gatson then scored a team high 15 points to lead the Blue Jays to a 61-58 win over Neuman. Westminster is now 6-3 overall this season and have won two straight games.

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 or Facebook (St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) HERE 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 You Tube Channel. Each Friday is the Feature Friday series featuring 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. Check out all of our YouTube Videos HERE

Six SLIAC Programs Earn USTFCCCA Academic Award; Fontbonne Women Tops in D3

July 29, 2016