Lady Blues Put Eureka to Bed in Season Opener

Box Score



EUREKA, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team closed on a 14-7 burst to turn a two-point deficit with less than three minutes to play into a 74-69 win over Eureka College early on Friday morning. The two teams were playing the first NCAA regular season basketball game of 2015-16 on any level and the game lived up to its billing as the Lady Blues and Red Devils traded runs and intense swings in momentum throughout until IC delivered the knockout blow down the stretch.

Riding the emotion of a large and rowdy home crowd, Eureka jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first two minutes before Hanna Bergkoetter and Hannah Jostes canned a pair of free throws and Melissa Solorio posted up to give Illinois College a 6-5 lead. Solorio would go on to hit three straight field goals down low for the Lady Blues, but Eureka had the answers to each one. A runner by Michaela Balducci from the elbow at the buzzer gave the Red Devils an 18-14 lead after the first 10 minutes.

The runner from Balducci began a 7-0 run for Eureka to extend out to a 23-14 advantage early in the second quarter, but Solorio and Ashley Hoegger responded with two buckets in the paint to bring the Lady Blues back into it. Eureka held onto its lead until the very end of the first half. Unable to find the range as a team for the opening 20 minutes, Jostes swished in the first Lady Blues three-pointer of the season with less than two minutes to play to send the teams to the locker room knotted up at 29-29.

Following a frenetic first half, both defenses controlled the start of the third quarter. As the quarter neared the midway point, each team had managed only two points, resulting in a 31-31 deadlock. Brielle Greenleaf broke the tie with a bucket down low and that ignited both offenses the rest of the way. Jill Friedrich drove in for a layup to give Illinois College a 38-37 lead and Shannen Quehl then made a pair at the line and went glass for a soft runner that made it 42-39 for the Lady Blues. After Eureka tied the score at 42-42 from the line, Jaicie Halleman gave IC a three-point edge going to the fourth with a three-pointer from the wing as time expired.

Qhehl and Solorio scored inside the first minute of the fourth quarter, giving Illinois College its largest lead of the game at 49-42. Buoyed by the crowd, Eureka made another run at the Lady Blues, reeling off a 12-1 run to take a four-point lead with under seven minutes to play. Trailing 56-52, Hanna Bergkoetter scored an important bucket in the paint and Friedrich then drew a foul to put IC in the bonus the rest of the way. When she knocked in both free throws, the game was back to a 56-56 tie.

Eureka had taken a 62-58 lead with 3:21 to play on a Balducci layup when the game shifted one final time. Employing a full-court press, the Red Devils gave up fast break layups to Solorio on consecutive possessions to tie things up yet again. Bergkoetter followed with two more baskets sandwiching another Solorio layup, making it a 10-0 run for the Lady Blues in the span of a minute. Ahead 68-62 with 2:22 to play, IC made its free throws down the stretch to never let Eureka get closer than four points the rest of the way.

Solorio led all players in both scoring and rebounding, turning in a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds. Friedrich was the other IC player in double-figures, scoring 11 points in the game. Bergkoetter added eight points to the cause, while Quehl and Jostes led the contingent of six freshmen who saw the court with seven points each.

Illinois College (1-0) will make its home debut on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., hosting crosstown rival MacMurray College at Sherman Gymnasium.