Young Blue Devils have high ceiling

QUINCY — With only three upperclassmen on the roster and one senior in the starting lineup, Brad Dance’s Quincy High School girls basketball squad will have some growing pains this season.

And that’s OK.

The Blue Devils are off to a 1-1 start as they were on both the giving and the receiving end of lopsided games. They opened the season on November 16 with a 49-19 win over Jacksonville, then dropped their Western Big 6 Conference opener on Tuesday night to Geneseo 57-21

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Dance said. “You know, we’ve got a young group. We start three sophomores. I can’t fault the girls for the lack of effort, but we’ve got to get better with the basketball and make it a more conscious effort to we’re looking to get the ball inside.

Getting it inside means going to senior Laci Novosel and sophomore Taylor Fohey.

“Everything we’re doing is trying to go through them (Novosel and Fohey) and trying to get you know, even if they’re not gonna score they’ve got to get touches,” Dance said. “And we’ve got to make sure that they get get their hands on the ball because you know, it’s going to force the defense to collapse and it’s going to give better looks for our guards.”

Novosel, who was part of the QHS girls golf team that won the WB6 and made it to the state tournament, provides toughness and senior leadership.

“Laci started last year and she played a decent amount as a sophomore as well,” said Dance, who is in his third season at the helm. “She’s probably our best defensive player and best rebounder. She’s kind of the floor leader on that end of the court.”

Fohey, who also plays goalie on the QHS soccer team, will be the focal point of the offense.

“Taylor is gonna be our go to person offensively,” Dance said. “She’s got really good post moves down low and a good mid-range game.”

Junior Asia Seangnamy will help open up the inside for Fohey and Novosel as Dance said she is the team’s best pure shooter. Sophomores Leah Chevalier and Leila Dade round out the starting five and they are tasked with the bulk of the ball handling duties.

“They’ve just got to get more comfortable out there,” Dance said. “Leila played a decent amount the last half of the year last year, but her role is going to even increase more this year as she’ll improve, be able to score and be more of a floor general. Leah is probably going to guard the other team’s best perimeter player and she’s a decent shooter.”

Dance said while he expects Geneseo and Moline to be at the top of the conference, Quincy’s youth allows them to improve as the season progresses.

“We have potential we have a lot of room to grow, whereas Geneseo, I’m not gonna say they’ve maxed out, but you know, they’re up there,” Dance said. “So our ceiling is a lot higher. With the group that we have, and with this conference every night, it’s not like for lack of a better term, you can walk out there and win the conference every year. I mean, you got to bust your butt every night.”

Olivia Dougherty is the team’s other senior.

“Olivia didn’t play a ton last year, but she’s getting more minutes this year,” Dance said. “Both her and Laci lead by example. So it’s a great mix for our younger kids to see. Laci’s obviously playing a lot and Olivia’s playing a decent amount, but they’re seeing the difference and how they both still work hard at practice. Our younger kids just need to keep developing. I’m not going to use ‘these guys are younger’ as an excuse, right? They’ve played basketball. They know what they’re doing.”

Freshman Kate Mettemeyer is also going to see a lot of varsity action this season.

“Kate’s come in both games and she’s done a good job off the bench,” Dance said. “She’s kind of an undersized post, but I tell her that she’s kind of the freshmen version of what Laci was. She doesn’t really like to shoot, but she’ll direct people around to get the rebounds and play pretty good defense. That’s promising.”