Fontbonne Bests EC Women, 73-62

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eureka women's basketball team conceded its second loss in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, dropping a 73-62 contest at Fontbonne.

In the loss, sophomore Olivia Falls (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) recorded a team-high 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor and 4-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line. She was also two board short of a double-double with a team-high eight rebounds.

Senior Ja'Keesha Hawkins (Peoria, Ill./Peoria) followed with 13 while shooting 5-for-13 from the field and knocking down a pair of 3-pointers. Marissa Murphy (Canton, Ill./Canton) contributed 11 points and a team-high five steals off the bench. Ashley Harfst (Saunemin, Ill./Pontiac) and Jadyn Mitchell (Flanagan, Ill./Flanagan-Cornel) each added eight points.

With the loss, EC moved to 8-5 on the season and 4-2 in the season, and fell into a three-team tie for second place in the SLIAC.

The Red Devils trailed the home team for most of the day. After an icy first quarter, the Red Devils shot 8-for-12 from the floor and outscored the Griffins 20-17 to make it a 5-point game at the half.

In the third, EC came back from a double-digit deficit and tied the game at 50-50 with 1:33 until the fourth after a pair of free throws by Murphy.

The Red Devils went into the fourth quarter trailing by four and in position to contend for the win. However, the Griffins outscored them 19-12 the rest of the way.

Fontbonne's Rylee Stafford led the way with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting with a trio of 3-pointers and seven rebounds. Raven Venegas pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds, and Molly Proffer added 11 points.

The Red Devils scored 29 points off 19 Fontbonne turnovers, but it wasn't enough.

Eureka (8-5, 4-2 SLIAC) will look to bounce back on Thursday, when the Red Devils host SLIAC co-leader Spalding (7-6, 5-1 SLIAC) at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center at 5 p.m.