Eutectics Maintain Perfect Record against Cottey with 59-56 Road Victory

The Eutectic women's basketball team travelled to Nevada, Mo., on Thursday night aiming to maintain the program's perfect record against the Cottey College Comets (12-7, 4-5 AMC). With a 59-56 victory, the UHSP program now holds a 4-0 record over the Comets, who joined the American Midwest Conference (AMC) in 2022-23. The win pushes the Eutectics past Cottey into fourth place in the AMC standings with a 5-3 Conference record and 10-8 overall.

The Eutectics trailed the Comets for most of the first quarter until a triple from Ellie Creasey tied the score at nine apiece with 2:43 left. Arianna Buduan followed that up with back-to-back threes to give the Euts a 15-9 lead at 1:25. At the quarter break, the Purple and Gold held a 17-13 lead.

Cottey's Sara Montesdeoca's put-back at 7:28 in the second quarter retied the game at 19. Dally Coulter followed up with a layup to regain the lead for the Comets (21-19) at 6:44. A Karsyn Morgan layup, followed by a three-point field goal from Alivia Simily at the five-minute mark pushed the Eutectics in the lead for good at 24-21. At halftime, the UHSP team was ahead 31-29.

In the third quarter, the Eutectics scored all of their field goals from the paint, with Payten Foster scoring on six-of-eight layup attempts. She kicked off the second half with an and-one for the Eutectics, and finish the quarter with 13 of the Eutectics' 17 points in the period. Meanwhile, Cottey went 6-for-19 from the floor to score 15 and remain four points behind (48-44) heading into the final quarter.

The Eutectics pulled ahead by as much as 10 points (59-49) after an and-one from Grace Beyer at 3:39 in the fourth quarter. As the Eutectics then missed all four of their field goals attempts in the final minutes of play, the Comets edged closer as time ran out. A triple from Cottey's Sarah Hunt with 34 seconds left in the game brought the home team within three (59-56), but the Eutectics were able to hold them off in the final seconds and take home the victory.

The Eutectics shot 45.1% from the floor to Cottey's 35.1% and went 5-for-18 from the arc for 27.8%, nearly matching the Comets' 28.6%. UHSP drained 8-of-10 free throw attempts in the game to maintain their second-best ranking in the NAIA for Free Throw Percentage at 81%.

Payten Foster led the Eutectics, going 10-for-14 from the floor to finish with a season-high 21 points, adding five rebounds and one steal. Beyer and Buduan each dropped in 11 points, Creasey and Simily had five apiece, while Morgan pitched in four points, and Caroliena Diaz scored two.

Hunt led all scorers with 29 points for the Comets, also grabbing five steals.

The Eutectics will continue on the road this Saturday, taking on Hannibal-LaGrange University (4-11, 0-7 AMC) at 1 p.m. at the Mabee Sports Complex in Hannibal, Mo.