Red Devils Ready for New Year, SLIAC Opener against Greenville
EUREKA – On Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., the Eureka women's basketball team will greet the New Year with a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Greenville inside Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center.
The Red Devils are heading into league play with a 3-8 record on the season, and are coming off a stretch of three close home games in a row. On Dec. 16, Eureka erased a 19-point deficit against Knox, and pushed ahead of the Prairie Fire late in the third quarter and kept pace for most of the fourth, before ultimately falling, 74-66. The Red Devils then bounced back and came out on top in a 78-68, non-conference challenge against Franklin on Dec. 28. Then, on New Year's Eve, the maroon and gold came up just short against Illinois College. In the final seconds, the Lady Blues made one more play on each end of the floor and escaped with a 77-74 victory over the Red Devils.
Eureka's Sydney Hannam racked up a career-high 29 points while shooting 7-for-13 from the field, knocking down four 3-pointers and going a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. The senior, who transferred from Spoon River last year, also contributed a pair of rebounds and a pair of assists, had one block, drew seven fouls and only had one turnover in 34 minutes.
Senior Abby Stotler finished with 16 points and pulled down six rebounds, tying with Moore for a team-high. She also hit a pair of 3s and hit 2 of 3 triples on the day. Senior Madi Jernigan tallied 12 points on an efficient 5-of-8 shooting from the field. She also snagged a team-high three steals and had three assists and two steals. Senior Shakaya Rogers dished a team-high five assists.
Through 11 games, Hannam leads the team and is second in the SLIAC in scoring with 17.3 points per game while shooting 40.7 percent from the floor, and Stotler and Rogers follow with 10.9 and 10.4 points per game, respectively. Stotler, who leads the team with a 40.8 field-goal percentage, is also fourth in the league in rebound per game with 7.5. In addition, sophomore Josie Ness averaged nine boards per game in the first six games of the season.
Greenville enters with a 7-4 record on the season. In non-conference play, the Panthers have averaged the second-most points per game in the league with 73.3 while shooting 42.1 percent from the floor (second in the league), 29.9 percent from 3-point range (second) and a league-best 75.4 percent from the free-throw line. They also lead the league in rebounding (34.3) and are tied with Webster for leading the league in assists (16.5).
Seniors Emily Reinneck and Madelyn Stephen headline the team. Reinneck, a 5-foot-8 guard, is averaging a team-high 14.6 points per game and is third in the SLIAC with a 37.1 field-goal percentage and is fifth in the SLIAC with a 45 percent field-goal percentage. Stephen, a 5-foot-11 forward, is averaging 14.4 points per game while distributing a team-high three assists per game and gathering 4.7 boards per game. Six-foot freshman Alyssa Seymour leads the team with 4.9 boards per game, and fellow freshman Maddy Meek leads the league in 3-point percentage, canning 50 percent from beyond the arc.
