Westminster Tops Eureka, 69-51

EUREKA – The Eureka women's basketball team managed to stay within striking distance, but the Red Devils couldn't keep up with Westminster on Wednesday.

The Blue Jays gradually pulled away for a 69-51 win over Eureka to open St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

Westminster's Reese Arnold carried the scoring load for the visitors, notching a game-high 28 points on 7-for-19 shooting from the field and 11-for-12 shooting from the free-throw line.

The Red Devils saw two players reach double figures, with Olivia Falls (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) posting 11 points to go with six rebounds and four steals and Shakaya Rogers (Hanover, Mich./Concord) adding 11 as well.

Savanah Moore (Clinton, Ill./Mt. Pulaski) followed with nine points, and Kennedy Jackson (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) notched eight points and a season-high 10 rebounds.

The Red Devils trailed by 10 points at halftime and had it within single digits midway through the third quarter and on couple of occasions in the fourth.

A block, rebound and layup by Rogers made it 49-40 with 8:41 to play and 53-44 with 6:51 left. The Blue Jays responded with an 8-0 run to put some distance between them and the home team.

The Red Devils outrebounded Westminster 46-43 on the day in a losing effort.

Eureka (3-7, 0-1 SLIAC) will look to pick up its first SLIAC win of the season on Saturday when the Red Devils host Blackburn (2-9, 0-1 SLIAC) at 1 p.m. inside Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center.