Red Devils Pull Away from Greenville Late

EUREKA, Ill. – The Eureka women's basketball team pulled away late to defeat Greenville, 72-57, on Wednesday night, improving to 2-0 in SLIAC play.

The first quarter was tightly contested, with both teams exchanging baskets. Ultimately, Eureka ended the quarter with an 18-15 lead. The Red Devils opened the second quarter with back-to-back buckets from Sierra Garcia-Reisch (Las Animas, Colo./La Junta) and Elena Redgate (Metamora, Ill./Metamora), extending their lead to 7 points just over 30 seconds into the quarter. Eureka pushed the lead to double digits when Miya Webb (Indianapolis, Ind./Brownsburg) hit a three-pointer with just under 3 minutes left in the first half, giving the Red Devils a 10-point cushion. By halftime, Greenville had trimmed that lead, but Eureka still held a 6-point advantage.

The Panthers cut the lead to just 3 points to start the third quarter, but the Red Devils regained a 10-point lead when Maxine Najera (Riverside, Calif./Hillcrest) made a layup. Greenville refused to go away, cutting the deficit to just 2 points with 1:44 left in the quarter. Eureka stopped the Panthers' momentum with back-to-back jump shots from Redgate and Najera to end the third.

In the fourth quarter, the Red Devils pulled away again. A layup from Lainey Moore (Sullivan, Ill./Sullivan) gave Eureka an 11-point lead with 6:33 remaining. Greenville cut the lead to 7 with 3:28 left, but Eureka responded with a 10-2 run to close out the game, extending the lead to as much as 17 points on the way to their second consecutive SLIAC victory.

GAME NOTES

• Wednesday marked Eureka's first win over Greenville since the 2017-18 season.
• The Red Devils are off to their best start in SLIAC play since the 2020-21 season, when they began 3-0.
• Brin Hultz (Quincy, Ill./Quincy) led all scorers with 16 points, adding 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Maxine Najera and Elena Redgate each contributed 11 points and 7 rebounds.

UP NEXT

The Red Devils (3-2, 2-0) return home on Saturday, Dec. 7, to face Principia (3-2, 1-0) at 1:00 p.m.