The Kewpies of Columbia have become a nemesis for the Eureka girls basketball team.
Hickman defeated the Wildcats 66-52 in the final at the Troy Invitational in early December and got the better of them again 65-51 to win the Clayton Rotating Eights Tournament Jan. 13.
The Kewpies (13-2) are ranked eighth in the latest Class 6 coaches’ poll. Their only losses this season came against undefeated Tipton (15-0 and ranked No. 1 in the Class 2 poll) and 13-2 Lutheran-St. Charles, ranked seventh in the Class 5 poll. Hickman has finished second in the state twice and third twice but, unlike Eureka, has never won a state championship.
“I think they’re a final-four team,” said Wildcat head coach James Alsup, who has coached Eureka for 23 years and guided the Wildcats to the Class 5 state crown in 2000. “The difference in the two meetings was hard to say. We had some clock management issues that cost us a few points (at Clayton).”
In the Clayton final, the Wildcats spread the offense among juniors Zoe Cuneio (12 points), Bailey Boulay (11) and Maison Smith (11), with Smith snaring 11 rebounds for a double-double night. She leads the Wildcats with seven rebounds per game and is second in scoring (11 points) to Boulay (11.5).
“(Smith) has a motor that doesn’t quit,” Alsup said. “She attacks the rim and does a lot of good things for us.”
Boulay, a three-year starter, has 673 career points and is right on track to reach 1,000. She leads Eureka with 37 3-point baskets this season. Senior Natalie Harty is second with 31.
The Wildcats opened the Clayton tournament Jan. 10, beating the host Greyhounds 68-53 despite getting outscored 27-20 in the second half. Four Eureka players reached double figures in scoring (junior Kylee Pickens 14, Cuneio 13, senior Megan McCune 11 and Harty 10) and the Wildcats outrebounded Clayton 40-29.
“Clayton was missing a player or two and we got off to a really good start,” Alsup said. “When we get rolling, we can score a bunch pretty quickly. The kids really shared the ball and good things happened.”
In the second round, Eureka buried Parkway South 84-48, missing a school record for points in a game by four. The Wildcats rang up 29 in the third period alone and were deadly from the 3-point arc, draining 13 of 26 attempts, led by Boulay’s four treys in seven tries.
Eureka shot 57 percent from the field and had 28 assists, one shy of the school single-game record.
“It was a perfect storm where we got on a roll,” Alsup said. “We did a good job of getting the ball down low. (Parkway South) has a good post presence and it was great night for Zoe. We’ve had seven different leading scorers this season.”
Eureka (11-6) had a Suburban Conference Yellow pool game at Parkway West (6-6) on Tuesday, after the Leader deadline. The Wildcats beat the Longhorns 62-37 in the Visitation Tournament Dec. 17 with Harty pouring in a game-high 21 points to go with six rebounds. Alsup will take his team to Fort Zumwalt South (10-3) on Friday.
In a scheduling anomaly, the Wildcats’ regular season ends more than a week before they host districts.
“I’m hoping for snow so we can get a game that week. You worry about getting rusty,” Alsup said.