Greenville Holds off Red Devils in Tight SLIAC Opener, 81-77
EUREKA – The Eureka women's basketball team pushed Greenville until the last possessions of its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener on Wednesday.
The Panthers, however, found a way to hold on and pick up an 81-77 win at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center.
Trailing by five with less than a minute and a half left, the Red Devils came out of a 30-second timeout and fed the ball to Abby Stotler (Wyoming, Ill./Stark County/MacMurray) in the post. The senior took two dribbles, spun to the center of the lane and put away a floater to make it 75-53 with 1:08 left.
A missed Greenville 3 and EC rebound later, Sydney Hannam (Canton, Ill./Canton/Spoon River) received the ball on the wing and stormed to the basket to make it a one-point game with less than 45 seconds to play.
The Red Devils couldn't get a stop on the other end, though. Stotler played good defense and stayed on Madelyn Stephen's back and forced her away from the basket. The layup missed, but Savana Powell-Goodman crashed the board, put away the bucket and drew a foul along the way. She made the free throw to make it a four-point game with 20.5 seconds left.
It ended up making the difference.
Hannam finished with a team-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Stotler shot 8-for-11 on the day and tallied 18 points and five rebounds.
Madi Jernigan (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Blackburn) followed with 12 points, and freshman Reece Putrich (Canton, Ill./Canton) added 10 points in 13 minutes off the bench.
In her return from injury, Josie Ness (Sandwich, Ill./Sandwich) contributed six points, three rebounds, a block and an assist.
Savanah Moore (Clinton, Ill./Mt. Pulaski/MacMurray) pulled down a team-high six boards on the night. Shakaya Rogers (Hanover, Mich./Concord/Glen Oaks) and Jernigan each distributed a team-high four assists.
For Greenville, Stephen recorded a game-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Powell-Goodman and Abigail Reinneck both recorded 11 points, and Emily Reinneck had 10.
Neither the Panthers nor the Red Devils were ever able to amass a double-digit lead during the game. The Red Devils started off strong, shooting 50 percent from the field in the first quarter and leading by eight with just over a minute left in the frame.
In the second quarter, Eureka actually improved its field-goal percentage to 53.3 percent, but the Panthers exploded for 28 points, hitting 8 of 10 shots from the field, knocking down a pair of 3s and going 10-for-11 from the field.
Greenville led by eight with 1:16 until halftime and went into the break up by six. It was virtually neck-and-neck the rest of the way, with Eureka matching Greenville point for point in the third quarter and outscoring the visitors by two in the fourth.
Eureka outrebounded Greenville 32-28 and sank 10 3-pointers for the second time this season, but its 23 turnovers to Greenville's 12 proved to be costly. The Panthers scored 23 points off turnovers to the Red Devils' total of nine.
On Saturday, the Red Devils (3-9, 0-1) will vie for its first SLIAC win on the road at Westminster (1-0) at 1 p.m.
