Fulton, MO 1/7/2023- The Westminster College women's basketball team took on the Red Devils from Eureka College for a Saturday afternoon showdown. The two teams battled for all four quarters and the game was tied with thirty seconds remaining. The Blue Jays would make clutch free throws in the final moments and come away with the 72-69 victory. Westminster wins their seventh straight game and improves to 8-5 on the year and 2-0 in the SLIAC. Eureka falls to 3-11 and 0-2 in the SLIAC.
Eureka showed they were game from the tip, scoring the first basket of the game and leading for the majority of the first quarter. They would start the game with an 11-5 lead and force an early timeout from the Blue Jays. After the timeout, the Blue Jays scored six straight points to tie the game up 11-11 with 1:44 left in the first. They would take the lead after Natalie Archambault (Eureka, MO / -) drew a foul. Eureka was also called for a technical foul arguing the foul call, resulting in Westminster getting four free throw attempts. Archambault would make one and miss one. Annette Ramirez (Sarcoxie, MO / Sarcoxie) then stepped to the line to shoot the technical free throws. She would make them both and give the Jays a 14-12 lead. Since there was a technical foul called, Westminster got the ball after the free throws. Archambault would score a basket on that possession to extend the lead to 16-12. The Red Devils would make two free throws of their own at the end of the quarter to make it 16-14.
The Blue Jays would begin to pull away in the second quarter going up 28-19 with 6:10 remaining in the first half after Trishelle Porter (California, MO / California) came in off the bench and drilled a three-pointer. The teams would trade baskets back and forth for the rest of the half and headed into the intermission with a score of 34-27.
Eureka hit a three to start the second half, they would score after a Blue Jay turnover, and just like that it was 34-32. They would continue trading baskets. The Blue Jays were unable to pull away and the Red Devils were unable to close the gap. Porter hit another three to put the Jays up six at 46-40 with 5:18 left in the third quarter. The Red Devils answered right back with back-to-back baskets and cut to two points. Porter would again come up big, hitting a three at the end of the third to put the Blue Jays up 53-50 after Eureka tied it on their last possession.
The Red Devils would take the lead in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, their first lead since the first quarter. Shelby Kurtz (Camdenton, MO/Camdenton) would tie the game 56 all with 7:34 left. Eureka would tie the game and then take the lead again at 60-58. A Ramirez three put the Jays up 1, Eureka would take the lead back right away on a layup on the next possession. The game would hit a scoring drought for the next two minutes of game time with both teams missing shots and turning the ball over with neither team able to capitalize on their opportunities. Eureka would make a free throw to go up 63-61 with 2:47 on the clock. Kurtz nailed a three-pointer to put her team up one point. The Red Devils responded with a three of their own, going up 66-64. Kurtz would tie after making a layup. The Blue Jays called time out after a Eureka turnover. Kurtz would score out of the timeout to put Westminster up 68-66. Eureka tied it 68-68 with 46 seconds to go in the game. The Blue Jays would draw a blocking foul and go to the free-throw line. The Red Devils would be called for a technical foul after disagreeing with the call. So the Blue Jays would shoot four throws in total, they would go 2-4 from the line, and take a 70-68 lead. Westminster also got the ball back after the free throws so that would force the Red Devils to foul again to extend the game. Kurtz stepped to the line, she knocked down the first one and misses the second one. Caragan Lockard ( Eolia, MO / Clopton) would grab the offensive rebound after the missed free throw. This forced Eureka to foul again and send Kurtz back to the free-throw line. This time she would miss the first one and make the second. The Red Devils would call timeout now trailing 72-68. Eureka would draw a foul after the timeout and make one free throw to make it 72-69. Eureka would get a steal on the inbounds after Westminster called timeout. Eureka then called their own timeout after the turnover with 9 seconds left. They would inbound the ball and get off a three but it was no good. The Blue Jays hold on to win the game to a final score of 72-69.
Ramirez led the way scoring 16 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. She would go 9-11 from the free throw line. Kurtz had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals in the game. Porter was big coming off the bench scoring 11 points and going 3-6 from three. Archambault was the fourth Blue Jay in double figures scoring 10 points.
The Blue Jays will be back in action on Tuesday, January 7th when they travel to Elsah, Illinois to take on Principia College in their first SLIAC road game. That game will tip off at 5:30 PM
