Camden comes in clutch on Senior Day
EUREKA, Ill. – Eureka College women's basketball senior Emily Camden (Green Valley, Ill./Midwest Central) hit a trio of free throws with 0.7 seconds left on the clock, helping the Red Devils celebrate Senior Day in exhilarating fashion with a 67-65 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Fontbonne in overtime, Saturday afternoon inside the Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center.
Eureka improves to 10-13 overall and 9-7 in conference. Fontbonne drops to 7-16 and 6-10 in the SLIAC.
The contest was back and forth over the first period of play with five ties and seven lead changes, but eventually the Griffins pulled out in front 18-16 after 10 minutes of play. In the second quarter, Eureka would take the lead and outscore Fontbonne 17-5 to head into the locker room with a 33-23 edge.
Eureka took their largest lead of the game at 37-25 with 8:33 remaining in the third period before the Griffins cut into the EC lead with an 8-0 run. The Red Devils closed out the frame without the Griffins getting any closer and took a 45-38 lead into the final period.
The Red Devils built their lead back up to twelve, 50-38, with 8:36 remaining but again the Griffins would engineer a comeback. An 11-0 run by FBU tied the contest at 54-54 with 4:06 left and neither team was able to separate themselves over the final minutes of play to force overtime.
Camden scored a game-high 25 points, including three triples. She finished the day 7-of-12 (.583) from the floor and 8-of-9 (.889) from the free throw line. The scoring output pushes her career total to 1,056 points, passing Terese Raum (1988-92) for 11th all-time in the EC record book.
Freshman Lexi Dooley (Sutter, Ill./Warsaw) tallied her second double-double of the season scoring 13 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Her rebounding total was the most since Kelsey Shoemake pulled down 17 against Webster on Feb. 21, 2015.
Fontbonne's Erika Kuhn scored 16 points and nabbed 10 rebounds for the visitors. Eureka held the Griffins to 1-of-11 (.090) from beyond the arc.
Eureka will finish out the 2015-16 regular season on the road next week starting at Blackburn Wednesday. Tip-off of conference tilt is scheduled for 6 p.m.