Last-second shot doesn’t fall, but struggles throughout fourth quarter doom Blue Devils

QUINCY — The Quincy High School girls basketball team executed the play.

The shot just did not go in.

The Blue Devils trailed Sterling 48-46 with six seconds left during Saturday’s Western Big 6 Conference clash at the QHS gym. On an inbounds play underneath the Sterling basket, Quincy sophomore guard Myley Longor got the ball in to Jada Brown on the left wing. Brown passed it off to Madelyn Hamby on the opposite wing, and when the defense collapsed to cover a cutting Cameron Byquist, Brown sprang free behind the 3-point line. Hamby passed the ball back to Brown, who let a potential game-winning 3-pointer fly.

“It was a good look,” Blue Devils coach Brad Dance said.

Brown thought it had a chance.

“Most of the time,” Brown said.

Sterling coach Taylor Jackson held her breath on the sideline.

“I did have an ‘Oh shoot’ moment there to be honest,” Jackson said.

Jackson could breathe a sigh of relief when the ball rattled in and out and Sterling’s Jaelynn James corralled the rebound just before the final buzzer sounded on a two-point Sterling win.

“Our girls didn’t let that shot get them down. They went and boxed somebody out and grabbed the rebound,” Jackson said. “It’s exactly what we needed to happen.”

Brown was the first Blue Devil to the postgame handshake line.

“That was kind of a blur for me,” Brown said. “It all just happened so fast.”

Brown is not hanging her head, though.

“It’s really a mental game,” Brown said. “If you miss one, it’s OK because everyone makes mistakes and misses shots.”

Byquist is remaining optimistic, too.

“It was there. She didn’t have it, but it’s OK,” Byquist said. 

Byquist’s sticktoitiveness in the waning seconds gave the Blue Devils another chance. Byquist lost the ball while going in for a contested layup with 10 seconds left. Sterling’s 6-foot-3 senior center Madison Austin snatched the ball, but as Austin brought it down, Byquist got her hands on it to force a jump ball, giving it back to the Blue Devils on the alternating possession.

“It was like, ‘At this point, it’s not what I did. It’s what my team needs,’” Byquist said. “So I was like, ‘I need to do what I need to do for my team.’”

Brown felt rejuvenated after Byquist’s effort.

“At first I was kind of scared because I thought they got the ball and we were going to have to play defense again and might not get a chance,” Brown said. “Then when I realized it was a jump ball, I was just relieved and felt like we really had a chance.”

The Blue Devils (7-1, 2-1 WB6) got another crack at it when Jossy James blocked Khloe Nicholson’s shot out of bounds with 6.3 seconds left, leading to Brown’s game-winning attempt on the ensuing inbounds play.

“We executed the play before. Khloe got to the rim the way we wanted her to,” Dance said. “We didn’t get it, but we got it back out of bounds, and we went back again with another play. We ran it perfectly, right where we needed it, and we just missed the shot.”

Quincy entered the fourth quarter with a 43-39 lead but scored just three points and went 1 for 4 at the free-throw line in the final period.

“It doesn’t come down to that last possession,” Dance said. “We missed free throws. We had a lot of offensive possessions that we kind of left dry. It’s definitely a learning experience for everybody.”

Brown notched a double-double with a game-high 16 points and 11 rebounds. Myley Longcor drained four 3-pointers and had 14 points. Austin had 13 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks for Sterling (7-1, 2-1 WB6).