EUREKA, Ill. – The W women's basketball remained in position to vie for a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) post-season bid, despite Saturday's 89-71 loss at current league third-place team Eureka College. The Owls fell to 7-16 (6-10 SLIAC), while the Red Devils improved to 14-9 (10-6 SLIAC).
 
MUW sits in seventh place in the race to make the six-team SLIAC tournament, one game behind current No. 6 Spalding University. Both teams have two games remaining, including a head-to-head match-up in the regular-season finale in Columbus next Saturday (Feb. 22/1 p.m.).
 
Eureka led wire-to-wire versus The W. The Owls trailed 23-17 after the first quarter and were down at the intermission, 42-31. MUW outscored EC in the third period (27-21), cutting the margin to 63-58 entering the final 10-minute segment. But the Red Devils turned up the heat in the fourth – doubling up the Owls, 26-13 – to thwart any hopes of an upset by the visitors.
 
Quay Dorrough, who joined the Owls at the semester break, had her best game of the season with team-leading totals for both points (20) and rebounds (7). Dorrough was sn effective 8-of-9 from the field.
 
Senior Conley Langford was close behind with 18 points, after being held to just two points in the first quarter. Langford was 8-of-19 from the floor, including a pair of threes, as the only other Owls in double-digit scoring.
 
Reshya Hudson and TK Jones each dropped in eight points. Claire Leak and Diamond Rayford chipped in six points, apiece.
 
Leak also grabbed five rebounds and Hudson four.
 
Eureka converted 26 MUW turnovers into 22 of its points. MUW won the battle of the boards by a 37-33 count.
 
The W next faces Greenville University on Thursday (Feb. 20/5:30 p.m.) at Pohl Gym.