One of the feel-good stories in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association is that of Northwest Missouri State and junior guard DeShaun Cooper (Jennings).
Cooper is the leading scorer for a program enjoying its best season in four years, one that is battling for the regular-season MIAA title and top seed in the conference's postseason tournament. Northwest is 17-3 overall, 11-3 in the MIAA. Only Central Missouri (16-4) has a better MIAA record (12-3).
This is by far the most successful of Cooper's three seasons at Northwest, which has not qualified for the MIAA postseason tournament since 2007-08, when it finished 24-8. The Bearcats won a combined 34 games over the three ensuing seasons.
"The first two years were tough, but it was a learning experience for me," said the 5-foot-7 Cooper, who is averaging 13 points a game. "I was new to the conference. I wasn't used to losing. It made me hungrier even more."
Cooper scored 19 points Saturday in a 78-74 MIAA victory over Pittsburg State (Kan.), a win that guaranteed the Bearcats of a berth in the conference's March 1-4 tournament in Kansas City. The top eight (of 11) teams in the final regular-season standings advance to Kansas City.
Cooper was a first-team Class 4 all-state pick as a senior at Jennings, where he was the Suburban East Conference player of the year. He averaged 21 points as a senior.
"He has matured as far as his work ethic goes," Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. "He has an appreciation for everything he's got, and that makes him coachable on top of it."
LOCAL TANDEM A KEY FOR NO. 6 MIZZOU
Shortstop Jennsa Marston (Principia) and senior pitcher Kristin Nottelman (Summit) will be two key figures this spring for Missouri's nationally ranked softball team.
Marston is coming of a sophomore season that saw her hit .311 and earn first-team all-Big 12 honors for a second straight year. Nottelman will shoulder much of the pitching responsibility after a 17-1 junior season that saw her post a 1.91 earned-run average.
Missouri, 53-13 in 2011, is No. 6 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association preseason poll. Arizona State, Florida, Alabama, California and Oklahoma are the five schools ranked ahead of the Tigers. Missouri opens Feb. 17 against Ball State at the Quality Inn Classic in Troy, Ala.
SODERBERG, RICHTER REACH 1,000 POINTS
Kramer Soderberg (St. Charles West) of Lindenwood and Dylan Richter of Washington University both reached the 1,000-point mark for their careers in the past week. Both are seniors.
Soderberg eclipsed the milestone Jan. 31 during an 18-point performance in an 85-59 victory over Culver-Stockton. Soderberg will have 1,010 points going into the Lions' next game, a Feb. 11 home date against Urbana (Ohio). Lindenwood is 22-2.
Richter became the 20th player in Washington history to reach 1,000 points when he pushed his career total to 1,002 (he now has 1,009) on Feb. 3 during a 94-84 loss at Rochester, N.Y. Richter scored 20 points in the game. Washington (15-5) hosts Case Western Reserve (Ohio) at 8 p.m. Friday.
It also was a memorable week for Soderberg off the floor when he became the school's first men's basketball player to be named to the Division II Capital One academic all-district team. Soderberg, averaging a team-high 17.3 points, is a mass communications major.
LU-BELLEVILLE WRESTLING IS A FORCE EARLY
Paul Collum will cut immediately to the chase when asked about the the first-year Lindenwood University-Belleville wrestling program, which has turned more than a few heads with its early success.
"We knew we had some talent in the room," said Collum, who in his first year as coach has established the Lynx as one of the premier small-college programs in the Midwest.
LU-Belleville's most recent eyebrow raiser came at the Jan. 28 National Collegiate Wrestling Association National Duals in Dalton, Ga. The Lynx finished fifth with a 5-1 record and jumped to No. 15 in the NCWA coaches rankings. The NCWA is a mixture of schools from all NCAA, NAIA and other governing bodies.
"We had some kids transfer in from (NCAA) Division I schools, and that helped us as a first-year program," Collum said.
Collum says the program's philosophy is to put much of the responsibility of building a winning program on the shoulders of the athletes, encouraging them to work with and push one another.
"Instead of holding their hands," said Collum, who spent the previous five years as an assistant at Missouri Valley.
Heading the first-year standouts for the Lynx has been 165-pound junior Larry Lanier (Chicago), who is 20-5 overall and finished 5-0 in the NCWA Duals. Former Southwestern Conference star Brendan Brooks (Granite City), a 235-pound freshman, was 5-1 at the NCWA Duals after transferring to LU-Belleville from Southwestern Illinois College at the semester break.
SIUE HAS A BRACKETBUSTERS GAME
The SIU Edwardsville men's basketball team will host Northern Illinois in a Bracketbusters game at 1 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Vadalabene Center.
The SIUE-Northern Illinois contest is one of a record 71 Bracketbusters games that day, showcasing 142 NCAA Division I mid-major schools from 16 conferences. The Bracketbusters concept was created 10 years ago as a way for the mid-majors to play similar competition from outside their own conference, roughly three weeks prior to the selection of the NCAA Tournament field. Thirteen teams from last year's Bracketbusters games ultimately advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
SIUE is 7-14 overall and 5-7 in the OVC. The Cougars started 3-1 in conference play, but a six-game losing streak sent them into the second division of the 11-school OVC standings. SIUE's two victories since Jan. 7 were 61-53 over Morehead State on Feb. 2 and 80-74 over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.
Junior forward Mark Yelovich (Mount Zion), who scored 20 points in each of the games, recently surpassed 1,000 points for his career.
BUILDING A FOOTBALL PROGRAM AT LU-BELLEVILLE
LU-Belleville's football program, which is scheduled to field its first team this fall, has 40 players signed.
"All of these young men have the pioneering spirit that we're looking for as we build this program," Lynx coach Jeff Fisher said. "We wanted individuals who are here to get an education and build something special."
Fisher knows all about building programs. He was part of the staff that reintroduced the sport at McKendree in 1996.
Among the players committed to LU-Belleville are running back Martavis Hines (Cahokia) and quarterback Kristian Moon (Triad). Moon, who was recruited as an athlete, established the Mississippi Valley Conference career record for yards rushing by a quarterback with 2,546, including 1,012 in 2009. Hines rushed for 2,284 yards during his prep career.
SIUE WOMEN BUILD STREAK TO FOUR
The SIUE women's basketball team solidified its hold on third place in the OVC with a 64-53 win over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday. SIUE is 8-3 in the conference, 14-8 overall and boasts a four-game winning streak. Eastern Illinois (10-0, 19-4) and University of Tennessee-Martin (9-1, 15-8) are the schools ahead of SIUE in the conference standings.
Jazmin Hill (Althoff) scored 15 points and Michaela Herrod (Alton) landed 14 rebounds to pace SIUE against Eastern Kentucky. Hill has been the Cougars' leading scorer in four of the past five games.
MATTEA, BEARS PICKED NO. 1
Senior outfielder Derek Mattea (Collinsville) figures to be one of the key contributors for the Missouri State baseball team that is the pick to win the Missouri Valley Conference title. The Bears, 33-23 overall and 11-9 in the MVC a year ago, were No. 1 in the league's preseason coaches poll.
Creighton, Wichita State, Indiana State and Illinois State round out the top five in the preseason ballot.
Mattea hit .276 in his first season at Missouri State after playing at John A. Logan College the previous two years. Mattea, who batted .372 with runners in scoring position last spring, is coming off a big 2011 season of summer ball with the Quincy Gems of the Prospect League. Mattea batted .336 and drove in 25 runs in 34 games for the Gems, who won the Prospect League championship.
Mattea was one of the premier hitters in the Southwestern Conference during his prep career at Collinsville. He led the league with 10 home runs as a senior in 2008.
Missouri State also returns senior infielder Travis McCormack (De Soto), who batted .288, plus junior outfielder Keenen Maddox (Parkway West) and his .282 average, as well as sophomore outfielder Trey Massenberg (Lutheran North), who hit .229.
COLLINS RETURNS FOR GLVC WEST FAVORITE
Senior infielder Curran Collins (CBC) will be one of the veteran anchors on Quincy University's baseball team, the preseason coaches pick to win the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division.
Collins batted .278 and walloped six home runs for the Hawks, who were 35-20 overall and 21-9 in the GLVC last spring.
Collins is one of 14 players -- most of them freshmen -- from the St. Louis area in the Quincy program. The Hawks are coached by former major leaguer Josh Rabe, who is beginning his second year at Quincy after a brief professional career that saw him play for the Minnesota Twins in parts of the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
ANOTHER HONOR FOR SIUC'S BOEMER
SIU Carbondale senior center Bryan Boemer (Vianney) has been named winner of the Football Championship Subdivision Rimington Trophy, which is awarded to the top center in each of the major college football classes.
The award caps a brilliant postseason for Boemer, a first-team all-American by the College Sporting News and the American Football Coaches Association. He also earned a second-team all-America honor from The Associated Press.
The Rimington Trophy honors Dave Rimington, a consensus all-America center at Nebraska in 1981-82. Rimington is also the only player to ever be named winner of the Outland Trophy on two separate occasions, signifying the nation's top interior lineman.
AROUND THE AREA
• Senior infielder Will Mulligan (St. Dominic) returns for Central Missouri, one of the top Division II baseball programs in the nation. The Mules are coming off a 49-10 finish that includes a 23-3 record in the MIAA. Central Missouri has won 22 MIAA titles -- including the last two -- and two national championships.
Mulligan batted .296 in his first year at CMU. He spent the first two years of his collegiate career at Longview Community College near Kansas City. Mulligan batted clean-up for the 2008 St. Dominic team (26-3) that won the Class 3 state championship.
• Four local products on the Westminster College football team earned Upper Midwest Athletic Conference academic all-league recognition. Junior wide receiver James Gladstone (Vianney), sophomore defensive lineman Richard Sterns (Marquette) and freshmen wide receivers Devinn Heuermann (Fort Zumwalt North) and Joe Newbanks (Borgia) all had a grade-point average of 3.5 or better.
• Butler (Ind.) junior pitcher Kevin Lenkman (CBC) and Lindenwood freshman pitcher Dylan Terrell (Winfield) have signed to play summer college league baseball with the Hannibal Cavemen of the Prospect League. Hannibal was 30-26 a year ago.
• For the second time in less than a month, Washington University senior Erica Jackey (Newark, Del.) broke her school record in the 800 meters. Jackey turned a 2:10.69 Saturday in the Bob Keck Invitational at Illinois Wesleyan, which bettered the 2:14.14 she posted the previous week.
• Senior catcher Jesse Tierney (Vianney), who batted .277 last spring, is one of the top veterans returning for Southeast Missouri (34-22), which is picked fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference, according to CollegeBaseballDaily.com. SEMO was 14-8 in the OVC a year ago.
• Angie Doherty (Incarnate Word) is a key returnee for the Greenville (Ill.) softball team. The junior infielder batted .316 as a sophomore with a team-high four home runs and 26 RBI. Greenville was 14-23 a year ago, finishing 8-6 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
• Washington University women's basketball player Dani Hoover (Junction City, Kan.) was selected to the Division III portion of the academic all-district team. The senior guard holds a 4.0 grade-point average in science and engineering. Hoover leads the Bears in scoring at 11.1 points per game.
• Junior outfielder Nick Johnson (O'Fallon) returns for his third season as a starter at SIU Carbondale, which was picked sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference baseball coaches preseason poll.
Johnson hit .271 with four home runs and 38 RBIs as a sophomore for the Salukis, who finished 23-34 overall and 11-10 in the MVC. Johnson is a .290 career hitter at SIUC.
At O'Fallon, Johnson was part of the 2008 Panthers team that won the Southwestern Conference title. O'Fallon won a combined 62 games during Johnson's junior and senior seasons.
• Jeremy Rives (East St. Louis) has signed to play with Ashland (Ohio), a member of the Division II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. A linebacker-running back, Rives was the defensive MVP of last season's 9-3 Flyers team that shared the Southwestern Conference title with O'Fallon. Rives was second on the Flyers with 110 tackles, and his six quarterback sacks ranked second in the conference.
• The SIUE men were picked seventh and the women eighth in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason tennis coaches poll. Eastern Kentucky was selected to win the men's title, with Tennessee-Martin picked to win the women's championship.
• SWIC women's basketball coach Mike Juenger won his 300th game Feb. 1 when the Blue Storm beat Wabash Valley 61-54 in a Great Rivers Athletic Conference game. SWIC (17-5 overall, 7-2 GRAC) has won seven in a row.
• The SWIC baseball team opens its season Feb. 11 vs. South Georgia in Douglas, Ga. The Blue Storm finished 34-18 a year ago.
• The McKendree women's basketball team finally found the victory column on Jan. 31, ending a 13-game losing streak. The Bearcats, who opened the season with six wins in their first eight starts, had not won a game since before Thanksgiving. McKendree snapped its losing streak with a 73-66 victory over Missouri Baptist.
