Eureka Falls to Fontbonne in SLIAC Tournament, 80-48
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eureka women's basketball team's 2021-22 campaign came to an end with an 80-48 loss to Fontbonne in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The Red Devils finished the 2021-22 season with an 11-14 record on the season and a 7-7 mark in conference play. The team fell one shy of making it back to the SLIAC semifinals.
The Griffins led from their first possession of the game until the end. The home team scored the first six points of the game and built a 13-point lead in the first frame of the game and gradually pulled away from there.
Eureka held Fontbonne's best player, senior Riley Stafford, scoreless in the first half, but the rest of the team picked up the slack, giving the home team a 17-point advantage at halftime. The Red Devils never came closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
Shakaya Rogers (Hanover, Mich./Concord/Glen Oaks) led Eureka in scoring with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line. She also dished a team-high three assists.
Senior Olivia Falls (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) and junior Savanah Moore (Clinton, Ill./Mt. Pulaski/MacMurray) each posted seven points. Falls finished her prolific collegiate career with 1,169 points and 779 rebounds, ranking seventh in points in program history and tying for fifth in rebounds.
Abby Stotler (Wyoming, Ill./Stark County/MacMurray) added six points and Madison Jernigan (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Blackburn) had five.
Senior Kennedy Jackson contributed a team-high nine rebounds, along with three blocks, three points and two assists, in an emotional final collegiate game, while fellow senior Marissa Murphy (Canton, Ill./Canton) gathered three boards, scored two points and had one assist in her last game in maroon and gold.
Fontbonne shot a strong 47.7 percent from the field and had all five starters reach double figures. Kourtney White finished with a game-high 18 points on 50 percent shooting, with 16 coming in the first half.
Stafford scored 15 points – all in the second half – on 3-of-8 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 shooting from the line. She also collected a team-high eight boards, along with Rylee Pickett.
Jillian Venegas and Kya Harbour each recorded 13 points, while Pickett had 10.
The Griffins (12-13) will play in the SLIAC semifinals at Webster on Friday.