Raiders survive another challenging road game on night Schreacke reaches 2,000 career points

HAVANA, Ill. — The long road home is nearly complete.

Only 40 or so miles to go, although the last leg promises to be as tough as any of the others the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team has traveled.

Monday night’s trip — the fourth of five road games in six days — was both fruitful and challenging. The top-ranked Raiders made 5 of 6 free throws to finish off a 57-51 victory over Havana and hand the Ducks their first loss of the season.

“I know we missed a couple, but when we got to the line in the end, we put them in,” QND senior guard Abbey Schreacke said.

QND, sitting No. 1 in Class 2A, has won five games in a row to improve to 12-1.  Havana, ranked No. 5 in Class 1A, fell to 9-1.

The Raiders finish off the road trip at Palmyra on Tuesday night before playing three games in the Rumble on the River at John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center. QND doesn’t play at The Pit again until January 12.

Ten of the Raiders’ final 11 regular-season games will be played at home.

“It’s just another factor added to our challenges,” Schreacke said of the recent barrage of road games. “It will certainly make January and February feel so luxurious when we are able to play at home a lot more.”

Schreacke finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds, eclipsing the 2,000-point mark for her career in the first quarter. She currently has 2,020 and is just the second girls player in Quincy city history to reach the 2,000-point plateau. Ruth Kipping set the Quincy High School record with 2,287 career points from 1994-98.

“It’s another great milestone that is exciting to have,” Schreacke said. “It will be something that I can look back on after my high school career and be proud of.”