January 14, 2008

Webster University's and Westminster College's men's basketball squads remained undefeated in conference play last week, with the matchup between the two squads still more than two weeks away. The game to keep an eye on this week in the SLIAC is Fontbonne University at Maryville University on Wednesday, January 16. The Griffins stand at 4-1 in conference play and had a record-breaking performance last week from junior guard Patrick McCoy. McCoy netted a career-high 44 points and had a school and SLIAC record 13 three-point field goals as Fontbonne defeated Principia College 100-66. Maryville is coming off an 81-75 victory versus Greenville College last week.

Several men's teams were ranked in the top 20 in last weeks NCAA Division III statistical rankings. Westminster ranked first in Turnovers per Game (9.9) and 10th in Personal Fouls per Game (14.6), while Greenville was ranked 16th in Steals per Game (12.5). Individually, Greenville's Christopher Simmons was ranked 27th in Steals per Game (2.9) and Westminster's Andrew Buxton was ranked 28th in Free Throw Percentage (.900).

Westminster's women recorded a key 62-52 victory versus Eureka College last week behind Heather Collums' 24 point performance on 6-of-9 (.667) shooting from the field, 2-of-4 (.500) from behind the arc and 10-of-10 (1.000) from the charity stripe. The Blue Jays are currently tied for fourth place at 2-2 in conference play. Greenville suffered their first conference loss last week with a 70-51 loss at Maryville. The Saints, on the other hand, are the lone women's team still undefeated. Maryville extended their regular season conference win streak to 64 games.

Fontbonne will try to hand Maryville their first loss on Wednesday, January 16. The Griffins are currently in second place at 4-1. Webster (2-2) travels to Greenville, while Westminster plays at last season's tournament runner-up Principia College. Principia has gotten off to a slow start in conference play at 1-3, with their lone victory a 52-42 win versus Webster.

Maryville was the lone women's squad to be ranked the top 20 in last week's NCAA Division III statistical rankings. The Saints ranked 10th in Three-Point Field Goals per Game (7.6), 12th in Scoring Offense (77.9) and 13th in Steals per Game (14.9). Individually, Westminster's Ashley Stanfill was ranked first in Field Goal Percentage (.726), Eureka's Nicole Fisher was ranked eighth in Rebounds per Game (13.4) and MacMurray's Abby Lowe was ranked 14th in Three-Point Field Goal Percentage (.457).

Matchups this week include...
Tuesday, January 15
Westminster at Principia

Wednesday, January 16
Fontbonne at Maryville
Webster at Greenville
Eureka at MacMurray

Saturday, January 19
MacMurray at Maryville
Webster at Eureka
Greenville at Principia
Blackburn at Westminster