Season comes to a close in AMC Semis against Columbia

COLUMBIA, MO - The Eutectics did not go down without a fight, but in the end the season came to a close and an incredible career saw its' final chapter. In the Semifinals of the American Midwest Conference Tournament Presented by Tandem HR, the top-seeded Columbia Cougars held off the 4-UHSP Eutectics to advance to Monday's championship game with a 70-62 win. Grace Beyer's decorated career came to a finish as she scored 33 points in her final game.

Mallory Shetley who was recently named First Team All-AMC dumped in 34 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks to lead the way for Columbia as the Cougars reached their fourth straight AMC Tournament title game. The Eutectics held a 41-37 halftime lead, but the Columbia defense held Beyer to eight second-half points which helped fuel the comeback win. Columbia outscored UHSP 18-10 in the third and led 55-51 headed to the fourth quarter.

The first quarter was electric as the lead changed hands six times in the games first ten minutes and neither team ever led by more than three. Samantha Matthews gave the road club their first lead with an early three, Beyer put the Eutectics ahead 12-10 with just over three minutes to go and another Matthews triple with 2:38 left gave UHSP a 15-12 advantage, their largest lead of the quarter. Shetley scored Columbia's first eight points of the game the final bucket of which game CC an 8-5 lead with 6:40 left representing the Cougars largest first-quarter advantage. Caroliena Diaz and Shetley traded layups in the final :46 seconds to see-saw the lead two more times late as Columbia led 18-17 after one quarter.

After a slow first quarter by her standards, Beyer turned it on in the second scoring 16 of the clubs' 24 points. She was 3-for-6 from the floor in the quarter including connecting on a pair of threes and knocked down all eight of her free throw attempts. Shetley meanwhile was held to six points in the second. A Matthews three gave the Eutectics a quick lead early in the period, but Shetley promptly tied it at 20-20 with one of her three second-quarter field goals. Matthews connected with regularity from the perimeter going 5-of-7 from deep in the game scoring 19 points in the loss. Neither team was really able to gain much separation in the second quarter as the lead volleyed back-and-forth nine times over the second stanza. UHSP held at largest a pair of four-point leads while Columbia's largest advantage in the period was two at 26-24 after a Mya Miller foul shot. UHSP turned that 20-20 tie into a four-point led after a pair of Beyer free throws and a Matthews layup while the other Eutectic four-point lead was at the end of the half. It was 37-all late when Beyer hit a layup and then later two from the foul line. Beyer scored the Eutectics' final nine points of the half to give them a 41-37 lead.

Just over a minute into the third quarter, Payten Foster reclaimed a four-point lead for UHSP with a layup off an assist from Beyer and then Beyer made it four again with a layup as UHSP led 45-41. But Columbia would outscore the Eutectics 14-6 over the final 7:55 of the quarter. A Mackenzie Hess three put the Cougars ahead 46-45 with 6:31 left. Shetley converted a layup to make the lead three. It grew to five after DeLaney Horstman took a feed from Shetley and made a layup as she was fouled with the free thrown extending the lead to six at 51-45 with 3:22 left, Columbia's largest lead of the game to that point. Beyer and Foster made field goals and Beyer made a pair from the foul line and the Eutectics trailed by four heading to the fourth at 55-51.

It did not even take a minute of the final period for Columbia to nearly take a double-digit lead. A Shetley jumper followed by a Hess three and the Eutectics were staring at a 60-51 deficit with 9:15 to go. Matthews got UHSP back within striking distance as she hit a much needed three and then a jumper to make it a manageable 62-58 deficit. Beyer again made the margin four with free throws with 4:42 left. Foster made it four 1:19 later on a layup. But UHSP would get no closer as Horstman made a layup and Shetley hit a layup with just over a minute to go to provide the final margin.

Beyer would finish by going 8-of-29 from the field, 3-of-5 from downtown and a perfect 14-for-14 from the foul line. She posted a double-double in her final game as she had 12 rebounds and five assists. Payten Foster finished with eight points and outside of Matthews' 19, Diaz' layup were the only other points the Eutectics garnered. Elizabeth Allanach went scoreless in the game missing three field goal attempts but did collect seven rebounds. DeLaney Horstman finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds for Columbia. The Cougars attempted and made eight more shots than UHSP. Columbia shot 43.1% while UHSP was 35.1%. The Eutectics did connect on 8-of-15 three-pointers (53.3%) while CC made just two of 17 tries (11.8%). The 14 free throws that Beyer took were the only foul shots for UHSP in the game while Columbia was 12-for-15 (80%). Columbia held the advantage in rebounds (41-34) and turnovers (10-6). The game featured 12 ties and 16 lead changes.

The Eutectics finish out the 2023-24 season with a mark of 16-14 going 10-8 in the AMC. For Beyer, it caps a remarkable career as she finishes with 3,961 career points. She became the NAIA all-time leading scorer when she scored 32 points against Hannibal-LaGrange on Feb. 24 to pass Miriam Walker-Samuels record of 3,855. Beyer finishes her career with four games in which she has scored 50 or more with a single-game career high of 59 set last year on Jan. 12, 2024 against Columbia. The Cougars beat the Eutectics for the third time this season after previous wins by 29 points and ten points. Columbia will go for a third straight AMC Tournament title when they play 3-Williams Baptist on Monday night. The Eagles surprised 2-Stephens College, winning 102-88 in the other Semifinal.