‘She’s put the work in’: Stratton breaks QND record for career 3-pointers during victory over Rochester

QUINCY — Sage Stratton knows the tally thanks to her teammates.

A senior four-year starting guard on the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team, Stratton broke the program record for career 3-pointers made with her second trey of the first quarter Thursday night in a 66-31 victory over Rochester at The Pit.

But did she know how many career threes she had made when the game ended or even paid attention to the numbers?

“My teammates were writing it on my water bottle,” Stratton said. “So I’m at 209.”

Finding messages on her water bottle from the bench brigade is a usual occurrence, but this is the first time Stratton has noticed it being a tally sheet.

“When I hit the record, they started keeping track on the water bottle,” Stratton said. “As I kept making them, they kept writing them down. I looked at it and was like, ‘Oh, wow, 209.’ I didn’t know that. So it was like, ‘Thanks, guys.’”

Stratton hit four 3-pointers as part of a 20-point effort. She tied the career record of 206 set two years ago by Blair Eftink early in the first quarter — she scored 11 points in the opening frame as the Raiders bolted to a 23-9 lead — and broke the record on a 3-pointer from the left wing.

Getting to the top of the charts meant moving past two former teammates in Eftink and Abbey Schreacke and three-time state champion Kassidy Genegenbacher.

“After the season, I’ll look back and be very grateful of what I accomplished because I’ve passed some very talented people,” Stratton said. “I’ve always looked up to them, and honestly, it feels great. I look at all the people who spent time rebounding for me in the gym — Coach (Eric Orne), my dad, my brother. They’ve helped me get to this record.”

Stratton will also finish her career at the end of this season having played more games than any player in program history.

“She’s put the work in,” Orne said. “She’s had a really nice career, and that comes from all of the hard work.”

That’s worth celebrating.

“I know when I wake up tomorrow it’s South Shelby on my mind,” Stratton said of the Raiders’ opponent Friday night at The Pit. “I’ll celebrate the record a little bit, but it’s all about the bigger picture. Everything is about the team and not the individual accomplishments. It’s nice to have the record, but I really want to achieve the overall goal. That’s what we’re working toward.”