‘They are very dynamic’: Alton girls pull away in fourth quarter for victory over Notre Dame

QUINCY — Eric Orne summed up what the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team faced Saturday night quite succinctly.

“I don’t think we’ll see a team that good unless we make the final four,” he said.

The QND head coach has won enough games and been to enough state tournaments to be able to gauge just how talented, disciplined and dynamic Alton is. The Redbirds used their quickness defensively, their size and some deft shooting to pull away for a 56-35 victory in the KHQA/American Family Insurance Superfan Shootout at The Pit.

“They are very dynamic,” Orne said of the Redbirds, who are ranked fourth in the Illinois Class 4A state poll with a 25-2 record. “We struggled late against their quickness when we kind of wore down. But I thought our effort up until that time was really good to be in the ballgame.”

Had a tipped ball at the start of the fourth quarter gone the Raiders’ way, it may have changed the complexion of the game.

QND, ranked third in the Class 3A state poll, trailed 38-31 when Alton missed a pair of field goal attempts on its opening possession of the final stanza. However, the Redbirds corralled an offensive rebound off a tipped ball on the first miss, cleared an offensive rebound on the second miss and finished the possession with a Talia Norman layin.

The Raiders (26-3) made a free throw on the following possession but never got the deficit to less than eight points again.

“They came out and took some of our action away,” Orne said. “At the same time, I thought they shot it really well. They’re that good.”

Throughout the first half, the Raiders stayed close, largely in part by attacking the middle of the Redbirds’ defense and not shying away from a pair of 6-footers in the middle of the lane. QND forward Tristan Pieper was at the forefront of the attack, finishing with 11 points.

“We had some momentum going, and she had worked really hard,” Orne said. “We just needed a couple of those shots that stayed on the rim and fell off or rattled in and out to just fall. That could have changed some things for us.”

Alton took away QND’s No. 1 scoring option in Sage Stratton by running lightning-quick guard Justice Haynes at her the entire night.

Stratton didn’t make a field goal until draining a 3-pointer from the right wing with three minutes to play in the third quarter and finished with just four points.

“They guarded her hard,” Orne said. “That’s what she’ll see in college and she’ll have to adjust. Coming off a good game, she knew they’d come at her. She’ll bounce back and we’ll bounce back.”

Alton guard Kiyoko Proctor was named the game MVP after scoring 22 points.

“They have weapons all over the floor,” Orne said.

Facing a team as highly regarded and skilled as Alton will pay off in the postseason, which begins in nine days.

“One-hundred percent,” Orne said. “This is always an opportunity — win or lose — that you’re going to get challenged and I like that.”