Top-ranked QND relies on defense in fourth quarter to hold off No. 8 Civic Memorial

BETHALTO, Ill. — The fourth-quarter offensive miscues — four turnovers and zero converted field goals — committed by the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team on Saturday afternoon proved it may be withering from pressure.

What ultimately kept the Raiders upright was their defense.

Despite going the final eight minutes without a basket, QND was able to withstand a late Bethalto Civic Memorial charge by getting stingy defensively. The Raiders, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, allowed just four points in the final 3 minutes, 49 seconds of regulation to secure a gutsy 60-46 win.

“We just kind of grinded it out,” junior guard Blair Eftink said after QND’s seventh consecutive victory. “We did what we needed.”

It all started on the defensive end.

After Civic Memorial, ranked eighth in Class 3A, capped a 12-2 run on an Aubree Wallace 3-pointer with 3:49 to play to get within 49-42, the Raiders secured stops on the next four defensive possessions.

The stops, along with hitting 13 of 18 fourth-quarter free throws, allowed QND (20-1) to regain the double-digit advantage.

“We did an incredibly good job defensively,” QND coach Eric Orne said.

For the first time this season, the Eagles, who had their eight-game winning streak snapped, lost at home. In its previous six home games, Civic Memorial (23-4) had averaged 58 points.

“We got a little stagnant offensively. A lot of that had to do with their pressure,” Civic Memorial coach Mike Arbuthnot said. “They did a good job of getting out on us.”

Civic Memorial never could get into an offensive groove. The drive-and-kick approach did not yield many open looks. The Raiders thwarted the perimeter weave, too.

On the other end, QND’s offense established a rhythm. In building a 47-30 lead after the third quarter, it finished around the basket and buried timely 3-pointers. Junior guard Abbey Schreacke scored 12 of her 19 points in the first quarter. Freshman guard Sage Stratton tallied six of her 13 points in the second. Eleven of Eftink’s game-high 25 points were scored in the third.

The key stretch was the closing seconds of the third quarter. In the last 90 seconds, Schreacke, who had not scored since the first quarter, buried a 15-foot jumper from the foul line and added another from the wing to snag the 17-point lead.

“They ran good offense,” Arbuthnot said.

Defense, though, is what carried the Raiders.

Civic Memorial shot 33.3 percent (14 of 42) from the field, including a 31.6-percent clip (6 of 19) from the 3-point line.

Three of the Eagles’ treys, though, came on four attempts in the first 4:11 of the fourth quarter. At that point, QND’s 17-point lead was sliced to 49-42.

“It made me a little nervous,” Eftink said. “I knew we would tough it out. We practice hard and work on finishing games.”

The outcome was a contrast to the Raiders’ previous trip to the Metro-East this season — a 73-42 loss to O’Fallon in the Breese Central Shootout on January 8. QND has not lost since.

“We’ve grown up a lot since O’Fallon,” Orne said. “We had to adjust our toughness. They got a little more hard nosed.”

That was evident in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve worked all year on finishing the game,” Eftink said. “We’ve struggled at times getting down in the fourth quarter, so this shows us that we’ve grown.”