Raiders’ sectional championship victory stacks up with most dominant in four-class history

CHATHAM, Ill. — The Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team made an emphatic statement with its 57-17 victory over Mahomet-Seymour in Thursday’s Class 3A Chatham Glenwood Sectional championship game.

That statement also prompted a question — Where does the Raiders’ performance rank in sectional history since the Illinois High School Association adopted the four-class system?

The IHSA went to four classes for girls basketball beginning with the 2007-08 season. In the 17 postseasons that have been contested since then, 543 sectional championship games have been played — one was decided by a forfeit — across all four classes combined.

During that same time period, QND has compiled a 457-87 record, reached eight final fours and won four state titles as a program.

While 57 points are a far cry from the Raiders’ high watermark or any postseason record, Mahomet-Seymour’s 17 points and the Raiders’ margin of victory are both significant figures.

Fewest points allowed in sectional championship game

On Thursday, QND came two baskets away from matching the four-class sectional record for fewest points allowed. The 17 points QND surrendered matched two other teams for the second stingiest defensive performance. Galena defeated Orangeville 48-17 in the 2023 Class 1A Polo Sectional title game, and Nashville held Red Bud to the same point total in the 2013 Class 2A Dupo Sectional championship game.

Those three performances trail only Class 2A sectional host Westchester St. Joseph’s 36-13 victory over Westmont in 2016. Those 13 points were still three points higher than the Chargers’ lowest total allowed that postseason — they gave up just 10 points to Woodlawn in the regional semifinals. The Chargers also surrendered 101 points to Proviso East on Dec. 19 of that season, a 91-point disparity from that regional semifinal win.

Largest margin of victory in sectional championship game

With its 40-point win on Thursday, QND can now lay claim to two of the three largest margins of victory in the last 17 seasons of sectional title games. The Raiders equaled the 2012 Lombard Montini squad, which defeated Westchester St. Joseph 75-35 to take home that year’s Class 3A Glenbard South Sectional championship. 

As dominant as those title-clinching victories were, they do not come close to what QND did to Williamsville in 2012. The Raiders won the Class 2A Beardstown Sectional championship game 90-28, the Raiders’ third straight win by at least 58 points to begin the postseason. 

The Raiders continued to run roughshod through the playoff field, winning their next three games by an average of 36.7 points en route to their second of three consecutive state championships. No team came within 30 points of QND during that postseason. The Raiders’ closest contest came in the state title game, during which they doubled up Breese Central 62-31.