Eureka Continues Road Trip Monday at Chicago
CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Eureka College women's basketball team will continue its longest stretch of road games since the 1985-86 season when the Red Devils head to the Windy City Monday for a 5 p.m. non-conference game against the Chicago Maroons.
AT A GLANCE
Location: Chicago, Ill.
Site: Ratner Athletics Center (1,558)
Series Since 1983: First Meeting
EUREKA RED DEVILS
Record: 5-3, 2-0 SLIAC
Head Coach: Steve Thompson, 3rd season (Wooster '01)
CHICAGO MAROONS
Record: 5-1, 0-0 UAA
Head Coach: Carissa Sain Knoche, 5th season (Carnegie Mellon '05)
FOLLOW THE GAME
Live Video: athletics.uchicago.edu
Live Stats: athletics.uchicago.edu
Twitter Updates: @EurekaGameDay, @ChicagoMaroons
ABOUT EUREKA
Eureka will return to the hardwood for the first time in nine days with a 5-3 overall record and a perfect 2-0 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference mark.
Senior forward Michaela Balducci is the Red Devils' leading scorer and rebounder with 13.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Junior guard Hayley Reneau adds 13.6 points per game. All five Eureka starters, the same group in all eight contests this season, average at least 8.3 points per game.
Monday's game comes as part of a stretch of eight consecutive road contests for the Red Devils. Eureka, which hasn't played at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena since Nov. 19, is 3-2 on its current road trip and will eventually return to campus for a Jan. 1 tip-off against Rust.
THE NATIONAL LEADER IN ASSISTS
Eureka will enter Monday's game as the NCAA Division III leader in team assists with 174 helpers through the first eight games of the season. The Red Devils' average of 21.8 assists per game ranks second among 434 Division III squads, trailing only Emory & Henry (22.0).
AN OUTSIDE THREAT
Eureka has done most of its offensive damage this season from long range.
The Red Devils lead the SLIAC and rank sixth nationally with 73 3-point baskets made. Eureka's team 3-point field goal percentage of .343 leads also leads the 10-team SLIAC and ranks 74th nationally.
BALDUCCI NAMED SLIAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Michaela Balducci was chosen as the SLIAC Player of the Week, according to an announcement from the league office, last Monday afternoon. Balducci averaged 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and shot 78 percent from the floor in league wins on Nov. 30 and Dec. 3.
Balducci didn't miss a shot attempt in Eureka's 81-39 win at Blackburn on Nov. 30. She went 5-for-5 from the field, 2-for-2 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the foul line en route to 18 points in just 17 minutes of action. She followed that effort with 20 points and 13 rebounds in the Red Devils' 76-60 win at Spalding, EC's first over the Golden Eagles in Louisville since Jan. 4, 2012.
She shot 14-for-18 overall for the week. The two-game effort from Balducci helped the Red Devils begin the SLIAC portion of their schedule with a 2-0 record.
Balducci is Eureka's first SLIAC Player of the Week recipient since Emily Camden won the honor on Feb. 15 of last season. Monday's announcement marks the second SLIAC Player of the Week award of her career after previously earning the recognition on Nov. 26, 2015.
ABOUT CHICAGO
Chicago is 5-1 overall through the season's first six games, owning wins over #25 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Hanover, Carroll (Wis.), Carthage and Ohio Wesleyan. The Maroons' 4-0 started landed them the national #25 ranking in the D3hoops.com national poll on Nov. 28, but a 76-60 loss to Wheaton (Ill.) on Nov. 30 knocked UC out of the most recent poll.
Three Maroons score in double figures -- Britta Nordstrom (11.7), Miranda Burt (11.7) and Olariche Obi (10.5). The Maroons average 82.7 points per game and have outscored their opponents by more than 21 points per game.
Taylor Lake, Chicago's second option off the bench, pulls down a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game in just 18.8 minutes of action on average.
Last season, UC compiled a 16-9 overall record and an 8-6 league mark to tie for third-place league finish. The Maroons have qualified for five NCAA Division III Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2012.
The University of Chicago competes as a member of the University Athletic Association, a league made up of eight selective private research universities across seven different states. Current Eureka Director of Athletics and women's basketball head coach Steve Thompson previously served as an associate director of athletics at Case Western Reserve University, a UAA member school in Cleveland, Ohio.
AGAINST THE UAA
The Red Devils have played only two contests against active University Athletic Association members since 1983.
EC secured a 76-60 home victory over Washington (Mo.) late in the 1985-86 season. The Bears returned the favor the following season, defeating the Red Devils in St. Louis, 67-54.
THE RED DEVILS IN CHICAGO
Monday's game marks Eureka's 10th contest in the city of Chicago since 1983. The Red Devils own a 4-5 record in the previous nine games and will shoot for their first win in the Windy City since defeating Moody Bible 83-38 during the 1992-93 campaign.
The Red Devils have also visited Chicago State, Mundelein, Northeastern Illinois and North Park in the last 33 seasons. Eureka's last game in Chicago was a Nov. 29, 2014 matchup with North Park. EC will visit the Vikings again later this month (Dec. 19).
RED DEVILS SECURE SLIAC WIN AT SPALDING
Junior guard Hayley Reneau tallied a game-high 23 points and senior forward Micheala Balducci compiled another double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds, leading the Red Devils to a 76-60 win at Spalding on Dec. 3.
The Red Devils snagged their first lead of the afternoon when Lexi Dooley scored inside on Eureka's first possession of the second quarter for a 21-20 lead. The two teams traded the lead eight times in the second period before EC used another late-quarter surge for a halftime lead. Eureka outscored SU 12-4 over the final 4:09 of the half, turning a four-point deficit into a 42-38 halftime lead.
EC blew the game open with a dominant third quarter. Balducci's layup at the 8:10 mark gave the visitors their first double-digit lead, 49-39. The Golden Eagles pushed back with three consecutive baskets from Alex Martin to trim their deficit to 51-45, but Reneau answered with a triple to ignite an 11-2 run to end the quarter.
The Eureka lead swelled to as many as 17 points in the final quarter. SU was unable to get closer than 12 points in the final 10 minutes.
Reneau went 9-for-17 from the floor and 5-for-9 from 3-point range. She also had six steals. Balducci went 9-for-13 for the day and collected 12 of her 13 rebounds on the defensive end. The Red Devils compiled 23 assists on the day, led by a game-high eight from senior Luci Weis. Junior Kerrigan Dura finished the game with six assists.