Red Devils Looking to Build Off Promise Shown Last Spring
EUREKA – It's officially Year 2 for coach Jaylynn Stewart and the Eureka women's basketball team.
On Tuesday at 7 p.m., the Red Devils will tip-off the 2021-22 season on the road against Knox in non-conference action.
The Red Devils are bringing back an experienced squad that features most of the contributors from the team that came one win away from playing for a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship last spring. That's allowed the team to hit the ground running on Day 1 in a way that wasn't feasible last year.
"It's super helpful that we have so many people who are returning who kind of already know what we do and how we do it," Stewart said. "We've been able to fly through things that took us 15 practices to figure out last season.
"We've been able to do a lot of stuff just because they're more familiar, and they know me and I know them. It makes it a little easier."
During the COVID-19 spring 2021 season, the Red Devils experienced their share of ups and downs, going 7-8 on the year and 5-5 in SLIAC play.
The team opened the season by nearly completing a 20-point comeback against Greenville, then picked up a strong non-conference win over Illinois College. That was followed by a three-game win streak against conference opponents, then a three-game losing streak against other three conference opponents.
Down the stretch, the Red Devils got one back against Fontbonne, fell short against future conference tournament champion Westminster and completed a season sweep over Blackburn before getting edged by Webster in the last conference game of the season.
In the SLIAC Tournament, EC trounced Spalding by 27 points to make it to the semifinals for the eighth time in the past 10 seasons and pick up its first tournament win since 2017.
By the time it was all over, it was clear Eureka had plenty of reasons to be excited about future seasons, and the Red Devils have seen glimpses of that promise in preseason exhibitions, too.
"We shared the ball well, which is one of the things that we started to become known for last year," Stewart said, "how unselfish we are. A lot of extra passes, a lot of assists. That's always fun to coach. It gets people excited."
The Red Devils return four players who received SLIAC honors last spring.
Junior Abby Stotler is back and looking to elevate her game after averaging a team-high 13.2 points while contributing seven rebounds per game and shooting 36.2 percent from the floor. Stewart says that the Second Team All-SLIAC honoree has worked on her game "immensely" since last season, showing the potential to shoot, score in the post and finish well.
Senior and four-year starter Olivia Falls is heading into this season on pace to the become the sixth player in Eureka women's basketball history to record 1,000 points and 600 rebounds. She's coming off a season in which she averaged 12 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while being one of the most efficient shooters in the league (57.4 percent field goal percentage), and was named to the All-SLIAC Third Team.
Her practice time has been limited due to complications from an incident when she broke her two front teeth in a game at Fontbonne last year, but the Red Devils know what to expect from her.
"We all know Olivia," Stewart said. "She'll come out. She going to crash the boards. She's going to play hard as heck and just be a nightmare for everybody to have to figure out how to defend her."
Senior point guard Marissa Murphy will run the show on the offensive end and get in the passing lanes, create deflections and rack up steals on the defensive. She contributed 8.8 points per game last year and was named to the SLIAC All-Defensive Team after leading the league with 38 steals in 15 games.
Senior guard Shakaya Rogers was named the SLIAC's Sixth Woman of the Year after averaging 8.9 points per game, 3.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in 18.8 minutes per game off the bench. She's expecting to be cleared to play in December.
The Red Devils' other key returners are junior guard Savanah Moore and senior forward Kennedy Jackson.
After transferring from MacMurray last season, Moore fought her way into the rotation by being scrappy and demonstrating an ability to play stingy defense and knock down open shots. She'll be counted on to play significantly more minutes and have a bigger role this season.
Likewise, Stewart is expecting Jackson to play more and be more involved this season. One of the team's most vocal leaders, Jackson will be looked to for playing tough defense down low, rebounding and finishing around the rim.
The Red Devils will also be getting boost from a trio of newcomers. Junior Sydney Hannam has transferred in from Spoon River College and already integrated herself into the lineup. The 5-6 guard from Canton tallied a team-high 25 points in the team's exhibition win over Sauk Valley Community College and appears primed to fill the role left open by departed guard Alaina Vance.
"Spread the floor for us and knock down open shots and do the little things that need to be done that not everybody loves to do, but have to be done to be successful," Stewart said.
Freshman Josie Ness is a 5-11 forward/guard who can play the 2-through-5. An excellent rebounder, she can score in the paint and shoot from outside. She joins the Red Devils after a standout high school career at Sandwich in which she scored over 1,000 points and gathered nearly 800 rebounds while winning 79 games in four seasons.
Then, backing up Murphy at point guard is freshman Hannah Burkiett. A 5-4 guard from Elmwood, Stewart describes Burkiett as "tough" and "hard-nosed."
Also returning and expected to contribute this season is senior Maddy LaGassa, along with sophomores Ariel Chism and Kyla Simmons and Bria Wessel.
When everyone is healthy and all the pieces come together, Stewart expects to see the Red Devils be a team that can play fast and out-sprint the other teams in the SLIAC.
"Not jogging, not running, but sprinting the floor," Stewart said. "We always want to be more the more in-shape team."