Kate Hillyer has made more 3-point baskets than any other player in the history of Eureka girls basketball.
So it was fitting that Hillyer’s 245th trey provided the Wildcats with the first points against Kirkwood in the final regular-season home game of the senior’s marvelous career.
“That’s not the first time that’s happened,” Eureka head coach James Alsup said of Hillyer’s opening 3. “Over the years she’s got us going. We’ve got a tip play we run to get her a (3-point shot); we didn’t get that tonight but we managed to get her the ball early.”
Hillyer made one more 3-pointer against the Pioneers, led all scorers with 21 points and Eureka tuned up for the Class 6 District 3 tournament with a 56-31 win in a Suburban Conference Yellow pool game on Feb. 25. The Wildcats finished the regular season 15-11, with a conference record of 2-4.
Earlier this season, Hillyer became the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer and had 1,884 points following the Kirkwood game. The players are still wearing masks on the court, but a small number of fans are now allowed to attend games after a long winter’s absence because of concerns around COVID-19.
“It’s mixed emotions. I love it here. It’s really hard to leave,” Hillyer said. “Playing that last game is always hard because I have a lot of good memories on this court. But I have a lot to look forward to. I’m going to build off what I’ve learned here and keep getting better.”
Freshman Bailey Boulay gave Eureka a 5-0 lead with a hook shot, but Kirkwood’s Khamori Cornelius was stout in the paint at both ends of the floor and her basket and free throw plus a field goal by teammate Lauren Mills gave Kirkwood a 15-14 lead.
Sophomore Megan McCune sank a 3-pointer on Eureka’s next trip down the floor to give the Wildcats the lead for good; she finished with seven points. Freshman Maison Smith followed McCune’s bucket with a field goal and sophomore Natalie Harty finished the quick 6-0 run with a basket with 2:32 to play in the second quarter. Hillyer leads the Wildcats with 22 points per game, while Harty is second on the team with nine per outing.
“Our offense has gotten better as the year’s gone on,” Hillyer said. “We’re a better team today than we were in November. Some girls played their first varsity minutes this year, so they’re getting better.”
At the end of the first half, Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to give Eureka a 25-19 lead. At the other end of the court, Boulay snared a defensive rebound, but Hillyer’s last-second 3-point attempt rattled off the rim.
Hillyer began the second half with an offensive rebound and basket to make it 27-19, but Cornelius responded with a free throw followed by a basket and the Wildcat lead shrank to five points. Harty then scored on a fourth-chance rebound, was fouled and finished an old-fashioned 3-point play with a free throw.
A 3-point basket by Mills again made it a five-point game, but she uttered a non-no and was called for a technical foul with 5:17 left in the third. Hillyer made both free throws, the Wildcats took possession and McCune promptly scored on an assist by senior Peyton Hallemann for a 34-25 advantage.
“I don’t know what (Mills) said, but she used the magic word and Kate went to the line and knocked them down for us,” Alsup said.
The Wildcats took their first 10-point lead of the game when Boulay posted up, made a spin move on the block and scored to make it 36-26. That began a 7-0 run and after Mills’ 3-pointer with 6:09 left in the third, Kirkwood didn’t make another shot from the field.
“We had tried to tweak our ball-screen defense early in the game and they took advantage of what we were doing and buried us in the post,” Alsup said. “We made an adjustment and in the second half did what we wanted to defensively.”
Senior Sydney Dennis made a 3-point shot for the Wildcats with one second left in the third. While the Pioneers’ offense remained stuck in neutral, Smith, Hillyer, McCune and junior Haley Ritchie all made field goals for Eureka in the fourth.
Eureka, seeded No. 2 in Class 6 District 3, got by third-seed Parkway South 56-53 Monday night to advance to the championship game against top-seeded Marquette (17-5) tonight (March 4) at Marquette. Hillyer led all scorers with 24 points, along with grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Harty added 14 points and Smith chipped in 10. It was Eureka’s third victory in three meetings with the Patriots this season.