Red Devils Ready For the Big Dance
PDF Version of Eureka Game Notes
CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. -- The Eureka College women's basketball team will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance in the 42-season history of the program on Friday when the Red Devils visit defending national champion and #2/4 Thomas More at 6 p.m. CST in the Cincinnati suburb of Crestview Hills, Ky.
ABOUT EUREKA
The Red Devils are 20-7 overall and less than one week removed from earning its first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship. EC has won 14 of its last 16 games since New Year's Day, its best 16-game stretch within the same season since the 1993-94 Red Devils won 15 out of 16 contests. Eureka has also won four of its last five this season on an opponent's home floor.
Junior guard Hayley Reneau scores 14.0 points per game to lead a balanced EC offense that has outscored its opponent by 10.8 points per game this season. Six different Red Devils average at least 7.0 points per game and have led EC in scoring in a victory this season.
Senior forward Michaela Balducci pours in 11.7 points per game and is EC's top rebounder with 7.7 boards per contest. Junior guard Kerrigan Dura nets 9.9 points per game and has 135 assists to be within striking distance of EC's single season record of 148 set by Deb Kessinger in 1990-91.
Additionally, senior guard Luci Weis (9.9), sophomore forward Lexi Dooley (8.4) and freshman guard Kennedy Dura (7.0) provide scoring punch for the Red Devils. Weis ranks third in EC history with 149 career 3-pointers and will become just the fourth player in program history to play 106 career games when she checks into the contest on Friday. Dura shattered EC's freshman record with 103 assists and has played 716 minutes, the most by a freshman since Jaquie Flanagan in 2009-10.
Reneau, Balducci and Kerrigan Dura were named to the All-SLIAC Team and third-year head coach Steve Thompson was selected SLIAC Coach of the Year. Reneau was chosen for the First Team. Balducci earned Second Team honors and Dura was named to the Third Team. Additionally, Balducci was tabbed for the SLIAC All-Defensive Team.
Eureka was picked to finish sixth in the SLIAC, according to a coaches' poll released before the start of the season.
MAKING HISTORY
Eureka received the SLIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Red Devils' first national tournament appearance in program history. The 2016-17 women's basketball team joins the 2002 EC softball team as the only teams in school history to qualify for an NCAA Tournament.
Additionally, Saturday's tournament title was Eureka's first in any sport in 11 seasons as a member of the SLIAC. The Red Devils are the 15th team in conference history to sweep the women's basketball regular season and tournament championships.
When the ball goes up on Friday in suburban Cincinnati, it will mark the first time the Red Devils have played a women's basketball game in the month of March since falling in the Chicagoland Collegiate Conference Tournament championship game to Indiana Tech, 93-60, on March 2, 1994.
Saturday's win was also Eureka's 20th of the season, giving the Red Devils their fourth 20-win season in program history.
RED DEVILS TOP GREENVILLE FOR SLIAC TOURNAMENT TITLE
Eureka earned its first NCAA Tournament bid in program history Saturday, defeating Greenville 82-74 for the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena.
Eureka took advantage of a quick start Saturday, building an early nine-point lead when Dura's layup doubled up the Panthers, 18-9, with 2:39 left in the first quarter. GC recovered to close the frame on a 9-5 run and trailed 23-18 after 10 minutes. The Panthers took control of the contest in the second quarter, scoring 13 consecutive points as part of a 15-0 run to lead the Red Devils, 31-23. EC didn't score in the period for nearly seven minutes and the Greenville lead at halftime was 39-35.
EC ultimately regained the lead when Dura's 3-pointer netted a 46-45 cushion with 4:25 left in the third quarter. The two teams would trade the lead four more times in the frame.
Eureka led the entirety of the final period. The Panthers stayed within a single point as late as the 9:15 mark, but the Red Devils used a 12-2 burst to take their largest lead, 68-57, with 6:48 to play. The visitors punched right back with an 8-1 run of their own to get back within two, 69-67, but Weis answered with a layup and a 3-point play on back-to-back possessions to push the EC lead back to three possessions, 74-67.
Protecting the lead in the final minutes, Eureka made eight of its last nine free-throw attempts in the final 1:26 to secure its trip to the NCAA Tournament. Dura scored a game-high 18 points and distributed five assists. Reneau tallied 16 points. Lexi Dooley scored 12 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
ABOUT THOMAS MORE
Thomas More is unbeaten (27-0) this season, the winner of 60 consecutive games and the defending NCAA Division III champion. The Saints outscored their opponents by an average of 34.8 points per game this season and topped St. Vincent (Pa.), 66-53, for the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament championship last Saturday in Crestview Hills.
The Saints are ranked second nationally according to the latest WBCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll and fourth nationally by D3hoops.com.
Abby Owings, a junior guard from Independence, Ky., leads TMC with 16.0 points per game. She takes an average of 15.0 shots per game and shoots 77 percent from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Madison Temple pours in 15.7 points per game behind 59 percent shooting and is one of 20 players in Division III to record a triple-double this season. Junior forward Nikki Kiernan adds 14.7 points per game. Kiernan also collects a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game.
TMC is the nation's most accurate shooting team, making its shots at a 48 percent clip. The Saints also lead Division III in average scoring margin (+34.8), assists per game (20.9), fewest turnovers per game (11.5) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.82). TMC has won 24 of its 27 games by double digits. The Saints' closest call of the campaign was a 61-59 non-conference win at Wilmington on Dec. 21.
Thomas More College is located in Crestview Hills, Ky., a town of 3,100 residents just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
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 and two years at NCAA Division I Kent State.
Jeff Hans is in his sixth season as head coach at Thomas More.
Hans has guided the Saints to an 143-8 record (.947), five Presidents' Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances, including 2016 NCAA Division III National Championship.
A 1999 graduate of Wilmington, Hans came to TMC after a three-year stint as an assistant at Northern Kentucky. He also owns collegiate coaching experience at Wilmington and Indiana State.
SERIES VERSUS THOMAS MORE
Eureka has never played Thomas More -- or any other active member of the Presidents' Athletic Conference -- in women's basketball.
The Red Devils will playing their first game in the state of Kentucky against a non-SLIAC school since visiting Brescia in Owensboro, Ky. during the 1991-92 season.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POD
In Friday's other First-Round game in Crestview Hills, #15/18 Hope (Mich.) will play Wisconsin-Whitewater in a 4 p.m. CST tip-off. The winners of Friday's games will play Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CST for a trip to one of four sectional sites on March 10.
Hope, a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, is 22-4 and received an at-large bid to the tournament after dropping an MIAA Tournament semifinal to Calvin last Friday. The Flying Dutch are making their sixth straight NCAA trip and 18th overall.
Wisconsin-Whitewater competes in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Warhawks are 22-5 and topped Wisconsin-Oshkosh for the WIAC Tournament crown last Sunday. UWW is making its 16th NCAA Tournament appearance.
FOLLOW THE GAME ONLINE
Links to a live video stream and live statistics of the game will be available at EurekaRedDevils.com. The Eureka College media relations staff will provide updates throughout the game via Twitter at @EurekaGameDay.
POSTGAME GATHERING
Following Friday's game in Crestview Hills, the EC coaching staff, student-athletes and support staff invite fans, alumni and other friends of the program to join the Red Devils at Grandview Tavern & Grill for a postgame gathering. Grandview Tavern & Grill is located at 2220 Grandview Drive in Fort Mitchell, Ky., approximately four miles north of Thomas More College.