Crim: Notes on Blass transfer, Quincy link with Arkansas baseball, QND grad finds new home, C-SC coach honored

QUINCY – The exodus from the Quincy University women’s basketball team continues in the wake of the April 4 departure of second-year coach Courtney Boyd.

Sophomore guard Mariann Blass announced last week on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she is transferring to Truman State. Blass started 28 games before missing the final five with an ankle injury. She was the Hawks’ second-leading scorer (11.3 ppg) and the team’s leading perimeter shooting threat with 48 3-pointers made.

Blass, expected to be a cornerstone next season, was named to the all-Great Lakes Valley Conference third team. She was a member of the all-GLVC freshman team in 2023-24.

Truman State lost twice to QU last season and was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the GLVC postseason tournament by regular-season champion Lewis to finish with a 14-17 record. It marked twice as many wins as the Bulldogs recorded the previous season.

In addition, Ashlynn Arnsman, a sophomore from Mendon Unity, is entering the transfer portal. 

The 5-foot-11 reserve forward appeared in 23 games and averaged 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds last season. She appeared in 23 games and averaged 2.7 points as a freshman.

The defections are noteworthy because QU is losing four seniors – Cymirah Williams, Taya Stevenson, Karstyn Stratton and Janiece Dawson – and graduate transfers Nicole McDermott and Taylor Haase from a team that went 25-8 and won its first GLVC tournament title in 20 years to advance to the NCAA Division II tournament.

The Hawks, the second-best scoring team in the GLVC last season, will have to replace their top five scorers. Forward Chomp Danso and guard Mikayla Huffine are the only remaining upperclassmen on the roster.

Boyd, the GLVC coach of the year after engineering a 15-victory improvement over her first season, left to become the head coach of Division I Valparaiso University. The school has yet to hire a replacement, who will be the program’s third coach in four seasons.

QND graduate signs to play for No. 2-ranked NAIA baseball team

First baseman/pitcher Dalton Miller, who helped Quincy Notre Dame to a third-place finish in the 2023 Illinois Class 2A state baseball tournament, has announced he has committed to Georgia Gwinnett, an NAIA school in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Miller has spent the past two seasons at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Mo. He finished with two home runs and 19 runs batted in while hitting .430 in 32 games as a freshman but has yet to appear in a game this spring.

Georgia Gwinnett currently is 42-4 and ranked No. 2 in the latest NAIA national baseball poll. The Grizzlies play in the Continental Athletic Conference.

Son of former QHS basketball standout thriving for No. 2 Arkansas

Ben Bybee, a son of former Quincy High School basketball player Kevin Bybee, continues to produce for the University of Arkansas baseball team, which is ranked second in the country.

Bybee, a 6-foot-6 junior righthander, has a 3-0 record in 12 appearances (including three starts) and a team-leading 3.30 earned run average. He has registered 32 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched.

The Razorbacks are 34-7 overall and 13-5 in Southeastern Conference play.

Bybee, who prepped at Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, Kan., made 15 appearances, including seven starts, as a true freshman. He posted a 2-1 record with a 7.24 ERA in 27.1 innings pitched, striking out 29.

He made 11 appearances as a sophomore, including seven starts, and finished the season with a 2-1 record, 5.83 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 29.1 innings of work.

Kevin Bybee played basketball for the Blue Devils from 1987-90 and was part of the team that finished fourth in the Class AA state tournament in his senior year.

C-SC’s Erickson named conference lacrosse coach of year

Culver-Stockton College’s Caitlin Erickson has been named Heart of America Athletic Conference women’s lacrosse coach of the year. The Wildcats posted a single-season school-record eight wins and reached the HAAC tournament for the third straight year this spring.

Erickson has been the C-SC coach since the program’s inception in 2019.

Moreover, freshman attacker Addison Holm and sophomore midfielder Kaelin Quarles represented the Wildcats on the all-HAAC first team.