By the time the Eureka boys basketball team tipped off their season at St. Francis Borgia High in Washington on Dec. 5, the Knights had already finished second in their own Thanksgiving tournament and then won 64-40 at Pacific.
Borgia started in a man-to-man defense and the Wildcats streaked out to an 11-2 lead on back-to-back 3-point baskets by 6-4, 230-pound senior forward Bodie Wilken and a 3 by senior guard Joe Rauls.
The Knights (3-2) switched to a zone defense and closed the gap, but Eureka’s defense was stouter, holding them to six points in the second quarter and 17 in the first half on the way to a 59-50 victory. It’s the fourth season in a row the two teams have met and the Wildcats are 3-1.
“Coming into the game, I was pretty nervous because it was their fifth game of the season and our first,” Eureka head coach Austin Kirby said. “Even though we have nine seniors, kids who I trust, there’s still a step up to game speed.”
Through five games Borgia junior guard Emery Woehrmann is one of the St. Louis area’s scoring leaders with 25.6 points per game and he poured in 48 against Pacific. Woehrmann made five of 12 field-goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, and scored 12 points. Senior guard John Gildhaus led the Knights with four treys and 21 points.
Kirby, who got his first win at Borgia, said all the credit goes to senior guards Drew Mohesky and Levi Fieser and junior guard Tyler Sweeney.
(Woehrmann) had three guys pestering him all night,” Kirby said. “He shot it the worst and the least he had all year and that’s a testament to their effort.”
One of the top bench players in the St. Louis area last season, Eureka senior forward John Haberkorn (6-2, 220) is now a starter and he scored 10 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. Haberkorn made 51 percent of 206 shots from 2-point range and averaged 11.4 points per game last season.
Eureka scored six points off the bench. Kirby said replacing Haberkorn as the sixth man will take time.
“He let the game come to him,” Kirby said. “Once we got into winning time, John exerted his will. He was in and around the basket using his strength to get it to the rim.”
Eureka senior guard Joe Rauls scored 15 points against the Knights, ahead of his average of 12.4 per game last year. Rauls qualified for the Class 5 cross country championships this fall.
“Joe got it to the rim. He’s considerably more athletic this year,” Kirby said. “He’s about an 80 percent free-throw shooter. He scored at all three levels.”
Senior forward Jaxson Joggerst (6-6, 215) is in his fourth season on the varsity. He secured his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Wildcats grabbed twice as many rebounds as Borgia. Joggerst recorded five double-doubles last season and he’s scored 618 points in his career.
“He’s our calming influence,” Kirby said.
Eleven Wildcats got on the floor against the Knights. Kirby said that’s the largest rotation he’s ever played.
“All in all, I was pleased with the way we played. We had more assists than turnovers. The No. 1 stat we wanted to win was the rebounding battle. I was very pleased with the first game.”
In another nonconference game against a familiar opponent, Eureka rolled past Francis Howell High 62-34 in its home opener Tuesday with Haberkorn registering 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Eureka is at Parkway Central High on Friday and travels to Wildwood to play Lafayette High on Thursday, Dec. 18. All three teams are in the Suburban Conference, but in different pools. The Wildcats are in the top Yellow pool.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association released its class and district assignments, and Eureka is in Class 6 District 2 at Marquette High. The Wildcats host the Mustangs (3-1) in a Yellow pool matchup Jan. 9.
Wildcats win consolation final at Troy
A trip north to the 38th Troy Invitational Tournament proved to be a good way to start the 2025-26 season for the Eureka High School girls basketball team.
The Wildcats started fast and got multiple contributions as the seventh seed as they raced out to a double-digit first-half lead on the way to a 74-38 runaway win over sixth seed Francis Howell Central, capturing the consolation championship Dec. 6.
“We were pretty good across the board today and we had contributions from a lot of people,” Eureka head coach CJ Herbert said.
Senior guards Mia Cuneio and Marleigh Allen led the scoring for Eureka with 23 and 18 points respectively. Allen also recorded 10 assists and six steals. Senior guard Bailey Thebeau knocked down a few big outside shots and finished with 12 points.
“Bailey Thebeau also knocked down a couple of big 3s for us, so today we were good,” Herbert said.
Herbert also praised the defensive efforts by senior forward Maddie Rakey, Tessa Bauer, and junior guard Laila Jackson, who locked down on Howell Central post Jayla Robinson.
“Maddie Rakey and Tessa Bauer both played fantastic, they both played hard and Howell Central has a good post player and we did a great job with her,” Herbert said. “We boxed out well and Laila Jackson did a great job on their post player.”
Rakey shot 4-for-4 from the floor for eight points.
Eureka (2-2) advanced to the consolation final after a 54-53 overtime win over St. Dominic High on Dec. 4.
“I think we were up nine going into the fourth quarter and we went a little cold and we struggled a little bit in the halfcourt, we gave up many layups, but then we got into overtime and I think Mia hit a big 3 for us and Marleigh had a bucket and then made two big free throws for us,” Herbert said.
The Wildcats led 40-18 at halftime and outscored the Crusaders 7-6 in overtime. Allen paced Eureka with 22 points and Cuneio added 17 points.
Eureka opened the tournament with a 61-53 first-round loss to host and No. 2 seed Troy on Dec. 3. Despite the loss, Herbert said it was a good teaching tool for a club that currently starts three freshmen.
“It was a really good learning game for us in terms of things we’ve been trying to talk about in practice,” Herbert said. “When you play a team like Troy it shines a light on those things, so it was a really good learning game for us.”
All things considered, Herbert felt the team’s first week went pretty well.
“I thought we did a pretty good job these last two games of making improvements, making corrections.”
Allen, who was named to the Troy Invitational all-tournament team for her performance, averaged 20 points, six assists, and four steals per game for the week.
The Wildcats lost 48-45 to Francis Howell High on Tuesday and host John Burroughs tonight (Dec. 11) at 6 p.m.
Dunscombe starts 4-0 with 115-pound title at Patriot Classic
Eureka High School girls wrestling head coach Clayton Wegener thinks this season the Wildcats will challenge Seckman High, Northwest High and Lafayette High as the best team in the Suburban Conference Yellow pool.
The four pools for girls and boys wrestling in the Suburban Conference are the same, and the Yellow is the highest. Since girls wrestling began in the state in 2018-2019, the Lions have a dual meet record of 109-2. Their only two losses were to the Jaguars.
The Chip Allison Patriot Classic at Parkway South on Dec. 5 was a good measuring stick for the Wildcats to start the season, and they lived up to their coach’s expectations by finishing second with 198 points. Northwest won with 204.5 and Lafayette was third with 139.5.
“Our girls came out ready to wrestle,” Wegener said. “I told them before the tournament that we’re part of the upper echelon and they wrestled like it. We have high aspirations and want to accomplish things here not done before in Eureka wrestling.”
Coming off her fifth-place state finish at 115 pounds, senior Kirra Dunscombe is off to a 4-0 start after finishing first at 115 at South. Dunscombe pinned her three opponents and faced Rockwood Summit sophomore Addison St. George in the final. St. George was fifth in the state at 110. Dunscombe was leading St. George 5-0 when the match was stopped for injury default at 1:22 resulting in a Dunscombe victory.
“It was unfortunate how her match ended and some weird thing happened and Addison’s ankle tweaked after we took a shot and they stopped that match,” Wegener said. “She (Dunscombe) tried to dominate and that’s what she did in the first minute. It was the premier match of the night.”
A “blood round” casualty at 130 at state for the Wildcats last season, senior Mira Richardson (4-0) won the tournament title at 140. Richardson pinned all four opponents in the first minute, including Lindbergh senior Josephine Crowley in the final.
“We told her to cut kids to get some extra reps because her goal is to be the state champ,” Wegener said about Richardson’s quick pins. “She was trying to work on new things.”
Junior Keanna George (3-0) was one match away from qualifying for state last year and she won the tournament title at 145 with three pins, two in the first period.
“She didn’t care who she was wrestling,” Wegener said. “She’s been wrestling with Mira and taken some beatings but it’s paying off.”
Eureka sophomore Mia Fijan (4-1) has a martial arts background, and Wegener said that’s beneficial on the mat. Fijan finished third at 100 pounds.
“She gets in funky positions wrestlers don’t know what to do with.”
The other top Eureka finishers were sophomore Iris Richardson (fourth, 105), senior Amara Vanderhoof (fourth, 125), sophomore Maddie Laughlin (third, 155), sophomore Emma Gaeta (second, 170) and junior Haley Sims (fourth, 190).
The Wildcats get an even bigger test Saturday when they travel to southwest Missouri for the Nixa Tournament. Nixa is the defending Class 2 state champion.
The Eureka boys wrestling team began its season at the Francis Howell North Tournament on Dec. 6. Edwardsville won with 199 points. Lafayette was second with 147 and the Wildcats were sixth with 66.
Junior Noah McCollum (third, 285), junior Colin Swingle (fourth, 215), junior Braxton Vanderveen (fourth, 144) and senior Connor Stephans (second, 138) were the top Eureka finishers. McCollum and Stephans are returning Class 4 state qualifiers.
The Wildcats travel to Jefferson City on Friday and Saturday for the Helias Tournament.