Women's Basketball Grinds Out Win Over STLCOP

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Fontbonne University women's basketball team earned a hard fought, 73-71, victory over St. Louis College of Pharmacy on Friday night to open its 2019-20 season.

Final: Fontbonne 73, STLCOP 71

Location: St. Louis, Mo.

Records: Fontbonne 1-0, STLCOP 1-2

How It Happened

In the first quarter, the Griffins trailed early but a Raven Venegas made jumper at the 5:50 mark put them on top, 8-7. The two teams flipped-flopped on lead changes, though with 38.0 seconds remaining, the Eutectics extended the lead out to 18-15 on Gabrielle Morgan's jumper.

However, Raven Venegas drained her shot attempt with just seconds remaining to put Fontbonne down one at the end of one.

In the second quarter, both teams had its struggles with Fontbonne shooting 23.1 percent from the floor and the Eutectics connecting on 27.8 percent.

With 4:31 remaining, the Griffins were on top, 24-21, on Jillian Venegas' made layup. With 24.0 seconds left in the quarter, Riley Guffey tied it up at 27-27 on one of her made free throws. However, prior to the horn sounding, Grace Beyer hit her jumper and was fouled on the play.

She made her free throw to cap off the three-point play and give the Eutectics the 30-27 advantage at the break.

In the third quarter, the Eutectics gained some breathing room after Madelyn Brouwer hit her 3-pointer to make it 35-29 contest at the 8:04 mark.

Fontbonne chipped away at the lead over the next three minutes as Mallory Proffer hit her second straight 3-pointer in as many possessions to make it a 38-35 game.

The Eutectics, though went on a 6-0 run to gain its largest lead of the game, 46-35, with 2:30 left on Victoria McDougall's made layup.

The Griffins cut into the deficit over the final minutes and closed out the quarter on a 10-2 run with Hannah Scharenberg grabbing her own miss and scoring the put-back with 2.0 seconds left to put Fontbonne down, 48-45.

In the fourth, the Griffins saved its best offensive performance for last going 8-of-12 from the floor, including making it count at the line hitting 10-of-14 (71.4 percent).

With 4:55 remaining, the two teams were all square, 56-56. The Griffins went on a 7-0 run over the next minute with Jillian Venegas hitting a 3-pointer, along with both Guffey and Proffer making its free throws.

Despite the Eutectics cutting it down to two on a few occasions, the Griffins made its free throw attempts when needed with the team going 6-of-8 in the final three minutes en route to the two-point victory.

Inside The Numbers

• Fontbonne shot 42.6 percent from the floor and went 22-of-29 from the charity-stripe.
• On the glass, the team came away with 34 boards and forced 16 turnovers.
• The Eutectics ended with a 34.2 field goal percentage. The team went 10-of-36 from beyond-the-arc.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Raven Venegas led Fontbonne with a team-high 19 points on 50.0 percent shooting.
• Proffer added 15 points, while Hannah Scharenberg made her collegiate debut and added 10 off the bench.
• Jillian Venegas and Madison Boaz finished with eight points each.

STLCOP Leaders

• Grace Beyer led all scorers with a game-high 22 points.
• Elizabeth Allanach contributed 13.

Up Next

The team returns to action on the road next week when they'll head on up to Wisconsin to take on Carthage on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by Wisconsin-Platteville on Friday at 6 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates on the women's basketball team.

Make sure to follow us on all our social media accounts: Twitter (@FBUGriffins), Instagram (@fbugriffins) and Facebook (/FontbonneUGriffins).