Trust the process: QU women use inside strength, stingy defense to win first GLVC Tournament title in 20 years

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The recipe for winning this weekend at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament was uncommon but successful for the Quincy University women’s basketball team.

The ingredients were a poor shooting first half, a halftime deficit, a re-dedication to pounding the ball inside, physically taking over the second half on defense and making plenty of free throws in the fourth quarter.

The Hawks followed the script again on Sunday in the championship game. They overcame a 35-29 halftime deficit by outscoring Maryville 18-8 in the paint in the second half and outrebounding the Saints 50-35 in the game. QU limited the GLVC’s most prolific 3-point shooting team to three makes in 18 attempts in the second half, then made 9 of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter to capture the title in a 64-60 decision on Sunday afternoon at Hyland Arena.

The conference championship is the first for Quincy (25-7) since it won back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005. It also earned the Hawks a trip to the NCAA Division II national tournament for the first time since 2016. QU learned late Sunday night it is the eighth seed in the Midwest Region and will play top-seeded Grand Valley State in the first round at 5 p.m. Friday in Allendale, Mich.

“What we saw in the second half is we bought in, we showed some effort, and we dug deep to the end of that buzzer,” said senior Cymirah Williams, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the weekend.

“This feels like joy,” senior Janiece Dawson said. “We deserve to be here. We deserve to win.”

Especially when the Hawks made so many big plays in the game’s final four minutes.

Faith Hawthorne’s 3-pointer with 4:38 remaining put the Saints (16-15) ahead 56-54. Williams split a pair of free throws at the 3:59 mark, then Karsyn Stratton’s 8-foot pull-up jumper along the baseline put QU in front 57-56 with two minutes left.

Lindsay Schadewalt’s free-throw line jump shot gave the Saints the lead, but Nicole McDermott, named the tournament’s most outstanding player, took a handoff from Williams and knifed her way through traffic to score with 1:19 left to play, making the score 59-58.

Schadewalt missed from 10 feet on the next possession, and Stratton missed a 3-pointer on the other end. However, backup center Taylor Haase snagged the offensive rebound and was fouled with 28 seconds left.

“If I’m being honest, I think I blacked out,” Haase said of the rebound. “I just remember knowing Coach (Courtney Boyd) said, ‘All we need is a rebound.’ That was what my mindset was. I couldn’t even tell you how I read the ball.”

Haase made the first free throw, but the second hit the right side of the rim and bounced left. McDermott, who was lined up on the right side of the lane, beat Annika Pluemer for the rebound. She eventually got the ball to Mikayla Huffine, who was fouled with 21 seconds left and made 1 of 2 free throws to put QU ahead 61-58.

Maryville’s last chance to tie the score evaporated when Claire Rake steamrolled Williams as she tried to set a screen and was called for an offensive foul with 17 seconds to play. 

Dawson made two clinching free throws with 9.6 seconds left to push the lead to five. Schadewalt scored with three seconds left, and Stratton split two free throws with 1.5 seconds to go.

“We stay ready, no matter what the quarter is,” said McDermott, who led the Hawks with 16 points. “It gets to the fourth, and the other team starts getting a little tired. That’s when we step on the gas, and we keep going. We came out at halftime super positive, and we knew that we could be right back in it.”

QU’s first four baskets were all from within close range against Maryville’s man-to-man defense. When the Saints switched to a zone, QU’s inside game disappeared. The Hawks survived by making four 3-pointers in the second quarter, but they made 12 of 32 shots in the first half.

“The first half was rough. We did not do what we were prepping to do,” McDermott said. “But in the second half, we were able to attack, get inside the zone, then kick and find it. We shot a lot of threes the first time we saw this team, and we knew that wasn’t going to work for us.”

“We just kind of focused more on getting touches inside (in the second half),” Haase said. “We shied away from it in the first half. Just getting those touches, I think, made us find the open looks.”

“We took the threes because we were open, but they weren’t in rhythm,” Boyd said. “We didn’t move the ball from sideline to sideline. We forced the ball inside (in the second half) so we could get movement around them. They were doubling our post. It opened up our guards, then they overplayed on their scramble, and we were able to get downhill.”

Haase and Chomp Danso combined for 13 points and 20 rebounds. The Hawks limited Maryville to 10 of 40 shooting in the second half.