Locking down defensively allows Blue Devils to kickstart 2024 with WB6 victory

QUINCY — Taylor Fohey’s reaction spoke volumes.

“Really?” she said with wide eyes and an I-didn’t-know-that expression when told the Quincy High School girls basketball team didn’t allow Moline to score a field goal in the first quarter of Thursday night’s Western Big 6 Conference game.

“Honestly, I don’t think too much about what we’re doing defensively because it’s so natural for us to get after it,” said Fohey, a senior forward. “We practice defense all the time. In practice, we’re playing against each other and the intensity’s high. For us, it’s a natural feeling to be getting defensive stops.”

The state-ranked Blue Devils got plenty.

The Maroons scored just two points in the first quarter on a pair of free throws by Marilyn Louis, didn’t make a field goal until Layla Jackson’s 3-pointer with 6:23 remaining in the first half and managed only nine points before halftime as the Blue Devils rolled to a 65-34 victory.

“Ultimately, you set the tone for the first half and for the game with your defense,” Quincy point guard Leila Dade said. “It’s crucial to do that at the start of both the first and second half. It was a big thing for them not to score a field goal.”

None of the Blue Devils, who are No. 9 in the Class 4A state poll, realized just how long the Maroons’ drought lasted.

“What you realize is how many baskets you are scoring and how well you’re playing defensively to set up those baskets,” Dade said. “You feel how much back and forth there is. I don’t think about what we’re allowing. You’re just in your zone and getting after it defensively.”

It’s the level of intensity Quincy coach Brad Dance hoped to see.

Following a third-place finish in the large school bracket of the State Farm Holiday Classic in which the Blue Devils faced two state-ranked teams, Dance gave his team three consecutive days off to enjoy the New Year’s holiday and get some rest.

“I thought the varsity needed those days off,” Dance said.

He said Wednesday’s practice wasn’t terrible, but it took a little bit of time to regain the flow and rhythm Quincy (14-4, 5-2 WB6) played with over the holidays.

“I knew what to expect, but I felt we needed the rest with three games this week,” said Dance, whose team plays at Granite City on Saturday before facing Columbia (Mo.) Battle in the Sophie Cunningham Classic on Sunday at Columbia College. “You could see we didn’t lose our intensity on the defensive end.”

That was a priority for the Blue Devils.

“We played at that high level in Bloomington, and we can’t come back and take a break and play like crap,” Fohey said. “We had to come out and establish ourselves.

“You have to play to your level, not their level.”

The Blue Devils did just that, scoring the game’s first 10 points and never being threatened. Fohey finished with 17 points, while freshman forward Jada Brown added 12 points and Dade had 11. 

“We’re going at such a fast pace on the defensive end that it’s a little bit harder to slow it down and be a little more under control on the offensive end,” Dance said. “But I’m not going to back off on the defensive end because that’s what we preach.”