For Immediate Release

Eureka, Illinois

January 24, 2009

Foul play helps blue jays nip red devils 62-58

Boxscore

The Eureka College Red Devils found themselves on the wrong side of the thin line between winning and losing in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference once again Saturday afternoon in a 62-58 home loss to Westminster College. The Red Devils fell to 0-4 in home games decided by seven points or less, while the Blue Jays, who remained in second place thanks to the victory, moved to 6-1 in SLIAC games decided by eight points or less.

The game was close throughout as there were 10 lead changes and neither team enjoyed more than a seven point lead on the day. In the end, missed free throws and turnovers would do in Eureka (2-13, 2-6 SLIAC) despite a valiant defensive effort that held Westminster (7-9, 6-2 SLIAC) to just 27.5 percent (19-for-69) from the field.

Eureka's Kim Downs (Kewanee, Ill./HS) took away five steals in the game to give her 101 for her career. She had already gone over 100 career points, rebounds, assists and blocked shots making her perhaps the first ever Red Devil with to go over 100 in all five categories. She added nine points, five boards, four assists and three blocks to her totals in the game.

Eureka led for most of the opening frame, but went into halftime trailing 33-32. What hurt the Red Devils more than the one point deficit was that three EC starters went into the intermission already with three fouls. Two of those happened to be Eureka's top two scoring threats in Lisa Byard (Morton, Ill./HS) and Lindsey Crum (Washington, Ill./HS).

Byard still had nine points at halftime, while Crum had seven. Lauren Snopek (Metamora, Ill./HS) chipped in eight first half points, helping Eureka out-shoot Westminster 45 percent to 31 percent.

Whitney Griffin, who had scored 36 total points in 15 games played on the season coming into play Saturday, came off the bench to lead the Blue Jays with 15 points. She hit all three of her three-point attempts in the first half.

Eureka out-rebounded Westminster 24-19 in the first half, but the Blue Jays were able to turn the tables on the Red Devils after halftime by grabbing 16 offensive rebounds resulting in 11 second chance points. Westminster also forced 15 second half Eureka turnovers, including several in key situations.

Eureka's first half foul trouble was exacerbated when all three starters that had three fouls at halftime had picked up foul number four by the 13:40 mark of the second half. All three would eventually foul out. Still, the Red Devils were tied with the Blue Jays at 40.

Chantaivia Knight (Normal, Ill./University) made a layup with 12:17 to play to keep Eureka within one point, but Westminster put together an 8-2 run to build the largest lead of the game at 53-46 with 7:18 left.

Westminster's Ashley Stanfill answered a bucket by Crum to keep the Blue Jays up by seven with 6:10 remaining. That would turn out to be the last field goal Eureka allowed in the game as the Red Devils forced six missed shots the rest of the way to make a game of it with the favored visitors.

Eureka scored seven of the next eight points, including four consecutive conversions at the line by Downs to cut the Westminster lead to 56-55 at the 2:22 mark. The Blue Jays made three-of-four at the line, while Eureka made 2-of-4 to make the score 59-57 with 34 seconds to go. Westminster tried to run as much time off the clock as possible before Griffin was fouled with 17 ticks left. She made the first, but missed the second giving the Red Devils life.

Downs was fouled on her way down the court, and also made the first and missed the second. Stanfill was fouled on the rebound with 8.5 seconds left. She missed both attempts at the line giving EC a chance at the last possession down by just two. Downs grabbed the rebound, but her long downcourt pass was intercepted by Rachel Backes, who was fouled with 1.5 seconds left.

Crum hit 7-of-11 field goal attempts to lead all players with 17 points. It was her seventh straight game with at least 15 points despite being limited to 26 minutes by fouls. Byard recorded her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Snopek matched Downs with five steals. She finished with eight points, five assists and five rebounds. Knight had six points and six caroms before fouling out with over nine minutes to play. The Red Devils shot a robust 44 percent (21-48) from the field, but just 56 percent (15-27) at the line. They outscored the Blue Jays 32-16 in the paint.

Eureka's next game is scheduled for 6:00 pm Wednesday, January 28 at Greenville College. The Panthers slipped past EC 47-40 in Eureka on December 3 thanks to a 9-2 run to close the game.

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For More Information Contact:

Bryan Moore
Sports Information Director
Eureka College
300 E. College Avenue
Eureka, Illinois 61530
309-467-6456
bmoore@eureka.edu