Red Devils Go To North Park Monday For 2016 Finale
CHICAGO, Ill. -- Following its third straight victory over a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe on the road, the Eureka College women's basketball team will take its final non-conference road trip of the regular season in Monday's 2 p.m. tip-off at North Park in Chicago, Ill.
PDF Version of Eureka Game Notes
AT A GLANCE
Location: Chicago, Ill.
Site: North Park Gymnasium (1,500)
Series Since 1983: North Park leads 4-1
Series in Chicago Since 1983: North Park leads 1-0
Last Meeting: North Park won 69-56, Dec. 20, 2015 in Eureka, Ill.
Last 10 Meetings: North Park leads 4-1
Current Streak: North Park W3
Thompson vs. North Park: 0-2
EUREKA RED DEVILS
Record: 6-4, 3-0 SLIAC
Head Coach: Steve Thompson, 3rd season (Wooster '01)
NORTH PARK VIKINGS
Record: 6-3, 1-2 CCIW
Head Coach: Amanda Crockett, 9th season (Northern Illinois '97)
FOLLOW THE GAME
Live Video: athletics.northpark.edu
Live Stats: athletics.northpark.edu
Twitter Updates: @EurekaGameDay, @NPU_womenshoops
ABOUT EUREKA
With two-fifths of the regular season complete, the Red Devils have a 6-4 overall record. While Monday's game in Chicago won't count in the SLIAC standings, Eureka is the last remaining unbeaten team in conference competition with a 3-0 mark.
Eureka continues its balanced scoring output after five different players scored at least 10 points in the Red Devils' win at Webster on Saturday. Junior Hayley Reneau (12.7), senior Michaela Balducci (12.6) and junior Kerrigan Dura (10.0) are EC's top three scorers. Balducci averages a team-high 8.1 rebounds per game and Dura ranks third among SLIAC players with 53 total assists.
The Red Devils continue to lead the nine-team SLIAC in 3-point shooting, averaging a SLIAC-best 8.5 makes per game from beyond the arc. EC's .339 team 3-point field percentage ranks second among league members.
In addition to their outside scoring prowess, the Red Devils rank first among SLIAC members in assists per game (20.6) and blocked shots per game (3.6).
Eureka was picked to finish sixth in the SLIAC, according to a coaches' poll released before the start of the season. The Red Devils have qualified for five consecutive SLIAC tournaments, the second-longest active streak among SLIAC member schools.
ROAD WARRIORS
Monday's game in Chicago is the final game of Eureka's stretch of eight consecutive road games. It is Eureka's longest stretch without a home game since opening the 1985-86 season with eight straight contests away from home.
In all, Eureka will travel more than 2,000 miles during the 28-day span that included trips to Kentucky, Missouri and a pair of visits to Chicago.
The unique scheduling quirk didn't exist until Principia's Sept. 16 announcement of the suspension of its program, forcing the Red Devils to make abrupt changes to its early-season non-conference schedule.
ABOUT NORTH PARK
North Park is 6-3 overall and will ride a three-game win streak into Monday's game with the Red Devils. NPU has wins over St. Mary's (Ind.), Piedmont, Manchester, Carroll, Blackburn and Illinois Tech and outscore its opponents by an average of 20.6 points per game. The Vikings are a longtime member of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).
Eight different players have started a game for the Vikings this season and nine different Vikings score at least 5.0 points per game. Liz Rehberger leads the group by a wide margin with 18.7 points per contest, aided by a team-high 62 field goals and 28 free throws. Shaylee Sloan leads NPU with 61 total rebounds (7.6 per game) despite missing one of the Vikings' first nine contests.
North Park's team scoring average of 78.2 points per game ranks in the middle of the CCIW pack, but its scoring defense of 57.7 ranks second among league schools. The Vikings limit opponents to a .358 field goal percentage, the lowest percentage in the league.
The Vikings were picked to finish sixth in the nine-team CCIW this season, according to a poll conducted by league head coaches prior to the start of the season. NPU finished 16-9 overall last season and 7-7 in the league to tie for a fourth place finish, but did not qualify for the conference's annual postseason tournament for the 10th consecutive season.
COMMON OPPONENTS
Eureka and North Park have two squared off against two common opponents thus far in 2016-17 and have identical results.
Both the Red Devils and Vikings own lopsided victories over Blackburn. The two squads have also suffered double-digit defeats to CCIW member Millikin.
ABOUT THE HEAD COACHES
Steve Thompson is in his third season as head coach of the Red Devils.
Since taking the reins of the program in 2014, Thompson has built on the Red Devils' sustained success and guided EC to the SLIAC Tournament in each of his first two seasons, including a title game appearance in 2015.
In addition to his role with the Eureka women's basketball program, Thompson has served EC as Director of Athletics since Jan. 2, 2014. Thompson has more than a decade of administrative experience in collegiate athletics, including five years at NCAA Division III Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
The 2016-17 campaign marks Amanda Crockett's ninth as head coach at North Park. She owns 89 wins since arriving in Chicago prior to the 2008-09 season. She owns previous coaching experience as an assistant at Division I Illinois-Chicago and at DeKalb High School.
A graduate of Northern Illinois, Crockett was the Huskies' most valuable player as a senior in 1997. Crockett still holds the NIU record for the most 10-assist games in a career with five. Crockett also ranks third in all-time assists, fifth in free throws made, eighth in steals and 18th in scoring (1,147).
SERIES VERSUS NORTH PARK
Monday's game will be the sixth meeting on record between Eureka and North Park. The Vikings have won four of the first five matchups, including a 69-56 win in Eureka last season.
Eureka and North Park met every November from 1997 through 1999 as part of an early-season tournament hosted by Carroll University in Waukesha, Wis. Eureka's lone win in the series was a 77-66 triumph in Waukesha on Nov. 21, 1998.
AGAINST THE CCIW
Eureka has played 60 games against active members of the CCIW since 1983, owning a 21-39 mark in the last 34 seasons. EC owns victories over Carroll, Elmhurst, Illinois Wesleyan and North Park.
The Red Devils' most frequent CCIW opponent has been central Illinois rival Illinois Wesleyan. Eureka and IWU have split 24 meetings since 1983, but haven't met on the hardwood since the Titans' victory at the Shirk Center on Nov. 20, 2007.
The only CCIW member school Eureka has not faced since 1983 is Wheaton (Ill.).
FOLLOW THE ACTION ONLINE
North Park will provide a live video stream and live statistics of the game on Monday. Visit NPU's official athletics website (athletics.northpark.edu) or EurekaRedDevils.com for links to each service.
The Eureka College media relations staff will provide updates throughout the game via Twitter at @EurekaGameDay.
LAST TIME VERSUS NORTH PARK
Emily Camden and Luci Weis each scored 13 points apiece, but North Park raced out to an early advantage and sustained the lead throughout the contest in a 69-56 non-conference victory at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena on Dec. 20, 2015.
NPU's Liz Rehberger paced the visitors with a game-high 15 points, while Soly Roman added 13 points and secured 14 rebounds to notch a double-double. The Vikings turnover battle was even at 24 turnovers apiece, but the Vikings outrebounded the Red Devils 42-35.
RED DEVILS WIN AT WEBSTER, SNAG FIRST PLACE
Eureka seized sole possession of first place in the early SLIAC standings on Saturday, earning its third consecutive league win on the road in a 75-66 triumph at Webster in St. Louis, Mo.
The victory improved the Red Devils to 3-0 in the SLIAC, matching their best start to the round-robin league schedule since joining the SLIAC prior to the 2006-07 season. EC is the only remaining unbeaten team in SLIAC play.
The Red Devils led at the break, 41-35. Webster pulled within two points (41-39) just 65 seconds into the third quarter, but Eureka responded with eight unanswered points, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from junior guard Hayley Reneau, to secure a double-digit cushion. EC led 56-51 after three quarters.
WU slowly chipped away at its deficit early in the fourth, clawing to within 61-59 with 6:55 to play, but the visitors eventually extended their lead back to 10 (70-60) on a free throw from junior guard Kerrigan Dura with 2:08 left. WU wouldn't be able to get closer than six points the rest of the way.
Five Red Devils scored at least 10 points, led by 16 apiece from Dura and sophomore forward Lexi Dooley. Dooley added a game-high 11 rebounds for the afternoon's only double-double. Dura scored 10 of her 16 points from the foul line and narrowly missed a career-high with eight assists.
Eureka dominated the Gorloks on the glass for a 44-25 rebounding advantage. The game featured 12 lead changes, all in the first half.