Marion County College Report

Parker Named to Heart of America Athletic All-Conference team

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Daniel L. Chamness

(originally posted 3/30, reposted 4/1)

Photos courtesy Lindenwood University sports information office

It was a memorable season for the Lindenwood University Lions — headlined by the strong season by

LU senior Joey Parker. The former Centralia Orphans star closed out his senior season with a selection to the Heart of America Athletic Conference third team.

He was unique among Lindenwood players as the only man on the roster to start every contest.

Over his 33 games this season, Parker averaged 33.2 minutes per game in helping Lindenwood post a 23-10 mark. He scored 194 points and pulled down 78 rebounds in conference games for respective averages of 9.7 and 3.9 per game. He also finished with 91 assists and 21 steals in conference play.

"Being named to the all-conference team is a small consolation prize," Parker said "Personally, I am surprised and humbled by the honor. I would trade it away in a second to be able to compete in the Nationals."

One of the reasons that it may frustrate Parker and the rest of the Lindenwood Lions is the way the team was eliminated from NAIA National Tournament consideration. The Lions dropped a 1-point decision to William Jewell in the HAAC Tournament Title game.

Parker was one of two Lions in double figures in the game, scoring 12 points on five field goals (one trey) and one free throw. He had four assists, three rebounds and two steals as well.

Parker scored his points this season by nailing 65-of-170 field goals and 47-of-71 free throws. He did some good work from beyond the arc as well with 17 treys. Parker was one of four Lions selected to the all-conference team. Lindenwood finished 13-7 in the HAAC. ...

McKendree University junior Andy Wolff, a Centralia resident and Metro East Lutheran grad, recently finished his basketball season. McKendree advanced to the first round of the NAIA Division I Playoffs. Wolff, who started and played in 33 games, averaged 27.0 minutes per game.

He finished with 254 points, 147 assists (team high) and 143 rebounds, which is respective averages of 7.7, 4.3 and 4.3. He also had 36 steals and 10 blocked shots. Wolff hit 87-of-210 field goals and 68-of-101 free throws. McKendree ended its season 27-7 overall and 13-1 in the American Midwest Conference. ...

Former Centralia player Matt Shaw finished with 15 points and five rebounds, but it was not enough to power Illiabum Clube beyond Academica De Coimbra. In the 68-67 Illiabum loss, Shaw drained 6-of-11 field goals and 3-of-3 free throws. He also had five rebounds. It was the sixth consecutive game that Shaw scored in double figures. Illiabum is 7-11 on the season. ...

Softball

Centralia grad Kristin Barrow, a DePauw University two-sport athlete, suffered her first loss of the year following four innings of quality work against University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Barrow allowed two hits, zero earned runs and fanned a pair. She is 1-1 on the year. DePauw is 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. ...

Amanda Brendel, a Salem graduate and Southern Indiana regular was 1-for-2 with a home run, two runs and one RBI this past week during a 7-4 loss to Indianapolis this past week. It was Brendel's fourth homer of the year. Southern Indiana is 8-14 overall and 7-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. ...

Centralia grad Bailee Winkler finished 2-for-2 to help Lindenwood pound dAvila University 16-0. Winkler doubled, walked, scored twice and drove home one run in the rout. Lindenwood is 12-10 overall and 6-2 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. ...

Tennis

Amanda Miller, a Salem grad and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville freshman, has a 4-8 mark this year. Miller has played most of her matches at number four singles, compiling a record of 2-3. She is 0-2 in doubles, playing with two different partners. SIUE is 3-13 as a team. ...

Baseball

Salem grad Tyson Moore had a pair of multiple hit games last week. The McKendree senior was 2-for-2 and scored two runs as McKendree defeated Hannibal-LaGrange College 15-1. In McKendree's 13-12 triumph over HLG, Moore finished 2-for-4. He scored twice and drove home one. …

Former Odin pitcher Alex Young, a McKendree pitcher, suffered the loss in McKendree's 5-4 loss to HLG. Young, who worked six innings, allowed three earned runs on seven hits. He fanned five batters. Young slipped to 2-2 on the year. McKendree is 15-8 overall and 3-1 in the American Midwest Conference. ...

Centralia grad Cody Stevenson was 1-for-2 with an RBI to help the Webster University Gorloks dump North Park University 2-1. In Webster's 2-0 win over NPU, Stevenson was 1-for-3. Webster is 6-5. ...

Message from Daniel L. Chamness

This is the final week of sponsorship for four loyal supporters of The College Report Online.

The departing four decided at the beginning of the year they would sponsor the column for 20 weeks, and this is the 20th article of the 2009-2010 athletic season.

Jim Ford Men's Wear, Country Bobs, Minor League and Lee's Sports have been tremendously supportive over the past four years.

In these tough economic times, we appreciate the support and always will. It is my hope that we can get these businesses, and more like them, to support future endeavors. I have bought things in the past from all four businesses.

There is one particular business of the four I would like to single out for special mention. Many of my clothes hanging in my closet were purchased at Jim Ford Men's Wear. I have shopped there since moving to Centralia in 1995 when I was working at the Centralia Sentinel. Even though I moved from Centralia in 2002, I continue to purchase clothes there. Mike Ford was instrumental in selling me dress clothes at a time when Sentinel editors expected their reporters to look as professional as possible. I continue to buy clothes and shoes there.

Jim Ford's will be closing this summer after 50 years in business in Centralia. Mike plans to retire and hopefully someone will purchase his business and keep me dressed in the best threads in town.

Finally, with only three businesses left to support The College Report Online, it is highly likely this column will not continue during the 2010-11 school year.

This is my first foray into producing a column on the Internet and probably will not be the last. My columns in the different papers around the state operate at a profit and allow me to provide a living for myself, my family and my staff.

When you add together the hosting fees, site maintenance, editing and time spent researching and writing the Marion County column, The College Report Online is a significant financial liability for my business.

I was losing money on this product before these four sponsors moved on, now my business is losing significant money with each passing week.

To lay my cards on the table, we need 15 sponsors to start this column for next year. With radio advertisements in both Centralia and Salem, I feel like everyone should know about this column already.

Fifteen sponsors is quite a bit, but far from impossible, even in this economy. Therefore, if you are reading this and you like the content of the column, please e-mail me at (dan62801@aol.com).

If you have ideas about potential sponsors or want to sponsor the column yourself, I would love to hear from you. I do not want repeated e-mails telling me how I need to accept less because of the tough economy.

The fact is, there are minimum operating costs involved in producing this product. We get no bailout dollars at The College Report Online, and operating at a loss month after month is bad business.

If the car has no gas, we can't continue pushing it down the freeway – plain and simple.

If the market exists to continue with The College Report Onlinewe will continue tracking Marion County athletes in their collegiate athletic endeavors. If the market does not exist, we can not. If you have suggestions, strategies or thoughts on how to make The College Report Online a better product, please contact us. If you think the entire idea fool’s errand, we would like to hear from you as well. Any feedback would be appreciated, and we hope to hear from you soon.

— Daniel L. Chamness