Eureka Routs Kalamazoo for First Win, 92-61
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Eureka women's basketball team got off to a slow start at Kalamazoo on Sunday.
It didn't last long. After trailing by 11 points early, the Red Devils took control with an energetic full-court press and cruised to a 92-61, non-conference victory over the Hornets for the team's first win of the season.
Olivia Falls (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) recorded her second straight double-double, dropping a season-high 27 points while pulling down 11 rebounds for the second straight game. The 5-foot-7 senior went 13-for-18 from the field and added two assists, two steals and a block.
Fellow senior Marissa Murphy (Canton, Ill./Canton) followed with 15 points while shooting 50 percent from the floor and notching a career-high eight steals. She knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, distributed a team-high four assists and made a block. Her eight steals in a single-game is tied for eighth all-time in program history.
Abby Stotler (Wyoming, Ill./Stark County) added 11 points while shooting 50 percent from floor and recording three assists, two rebounds, a steal and a block.
Sydney Hannam (Canton, Ill./Canton), a junior transfer from Spoon River College, notched nine points, three assists and three steals in her Red Devil debut, and junior Savanah Moore (Clinton, Ill./Mt. Pulaski) chipped in with eight points, five steals, three rebounds and an assist.
Freshman Josie Ness (Sandwich, Ill./Sandwich) posted nine points off the bench, while Kennedy Jackson (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) and Maddy LaGassa (Roseville, Mich./Roseville) each had five.
Kalamazoo scored the first 11 points of the game, but once Eureka found its groove, the Red Devils forced turnover after turnover. That led to quick scores off steals, finishes in transitions and conversions on the offensive end.
By the time there was 4:15 left in the first quarter, it was already tied at 13-13. The Red Devils went ahead for the first time on a Murphy 3-pointer with three minutes left in the first frame. By the end of the quarter, the visitors led by 10. A putback effort by Ness at the buzzer made it 27-17.
The Red Devils kept piling it on from there, taking a 23-point lead into halftime following a last-second steal by Hannam and finish by Falls. The lead swelled to as many as 36 points in the second half.
When it was all over, Eureka had forced a season-high 32 turnovers and collected a season-high 24 steals. Forty of the Red Devils' 92 points came off turnovers and 58 came in the paint – both season highs, as well.
In the team's first game of the season with its entire active roster, Eureka shot a season-best 44 percent from the floor and a season-best 68.4 percent from the free-throw line while also gathering a season-high 46 boards and registering a season-high 14 assists.
The win was Eureka's first-ever against Kalamazoo. It was only the teams' second-ever meeting and the first since 1997.
Eureka (1-3) will next face Illinois Wesleyan (1-4) on the road on Wednesday at 5 p.m.