Red Devils Win 13th Straight Over Blackburn, 71-54

CARLINVILLE, Ill. – The Eureka College women's basketball team extended its series win streak over Blackburn to 13 games in a 71-54 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Beavers, Saturday afternoon in Carlinville, Ill.

The Red Devils scored the first 13 points of the afternoon and held the Beavers scoreless until the 4:57 mark of the first quarter. EC led by as many as 17 in the opening period and had a 19-6 advantage at the end of the frame.

Eureka led by double digits for the final 34-minutes, 26-seconds of the contest. A Lexi Dooley (Sutter, Ill./Warsaw H.S.) bucket in the final minute of the first half gave the Red Devils their largest lead of the first 20 minutes, 36-12, that also held up as the halftime score.

Hayley Reneau (Washington, Ill./Washington H.S./Illinois Central) gave EC its biggest advantage of the day, 40-14, with a pair of free throws with 6:59 to play in the third quarter. The score was 55-32 in favor of the visitors after 30 minutes.

Reneau scored a game-high 19 points for the visitors. Kennedy Dura (Edwards, Ill./Brimfield H.S.) tallied 15 and Samantha Sarnes (Havana, Ill./Havana H.S.) added 13 points. Kerrigan Dura (Edwards, Ill./Brimfield H.S.) paced the Red Devils with 11 rebounds and had five assists to finish the contest with 302 for her 72-game collegiate career. She is the seventh player in Eureka women's basketball history to record 300 assists.

Eureka has now won 13 consecutive games against Blackburn dating back to Jan. 18, 2012. The streak is Eureka's second-longest active win streak against any NCAA Division III opponent.

The Red Devils will promptly return home and have approximately nine hours to prepare for their third annual "Midnight Madness" game, a 12 a.m. tip-off Sunday against Lincoln Christian at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena.