Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — A new era of summer baseball has a new brand and a new name. The Quincy Doggy Paddlers. Golden Rule Entertainment, the company that owns the Quincy Baseball Club and made the decision to bring Prospect League baseball back to the Gem City, announced the team name and unveiled its logos Friday afternoon.…
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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Everything Ryan Hellenthal experiences this week during the SIU-Edwardsville men’s basketball team’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament is connecting his past to his present and so many of the things that have happened in between. The Cougars, making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since becoming an NCAA Division I program in 2008,…
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QUINCY — A trio of Quincy High School boys basketball players received all-state honors from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and led a brigade of nine area players overall to receive plaudits. Quincy senior guard Bradley Longcor III received first-team honors in Class 4A, while Blue Devils senior forward Keshaun Thomas was a third-team selection…
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QUINCY — Three area players earned first-team honors and six others received mention on the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association girls all-state teams. Central-Southeastern senior forward Lauren Miller and Pittsfield freshman guard Reese Ramsey were first-team picks in Class 2A, while Brown County sophomore guard Kenzie Kassing was a first-team selection in Class 1A. Receiving second-team…
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QUINCY — Blair Eftink is taking more than her 3-point prowess across town. A handful of accolades are going with her. The John Wood Community College sophomore guard, who has committed to play at Quincy University next season, recently received All-Region 24 honors and second-team All-Mid-West Athletic Conference plaudits. Eftink, a 5-foot-8 guard who was…
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ALLENDALE, Mich. — The Quincy University women’s basketball team found itself where it wasn’t expected to be Friday night. Still playing. Hawks coach Courtney Boyd wanted her players to take note of that. Their season ended with a 108-72 loss to top-seeded Grand Valley State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional…
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QUINCY — Jake Wallingford continues to show what he is capable of doing when fully healthy. The 6-foot-9 forward battled injuries his senior season with the Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball team and his freshman season at John Wood Community, but he played in 26 games this past season and averaged more than 23 minutes…
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QUINCY — A remarkable turnaround in the second year of Courtney Boyd’s tenure as the head coach of the Quincy University women’s basketball program means the Hawks are back on the national stage. After winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship, the Hawks are returning to the NCAA Division II national tournament for the…
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QUINCY — The Quincy University women’s basketball team is making its 11th NCAA Division II national tournament appearance this week and first since the 2015-16 season as it heads to Allendale, Mich., for the Midwest Regional. The eighth-seeded Hawks will face top-seeded Grand Valley State at 4 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals on the Lakers’…
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NORMAL, Ill. — Reality hit Bradley Longcor III all at once as he took a seat on the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s bench. With 19 seconds remaining in regulation Monday night in the Class 4A Normal Super-Sectional at Illinois State University’s CEFCU Arena and the Blue Devils trailing by five points, Longcor fouled…
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QUINCY — The Quincy University men’s basketball team’s roster is getting an overhaul. Since the Hawks’ season ended March 1 with an 89-77 victory over Indianapolis at Pepsi Arena, six players on the 16-man roster have entered the transfer portal. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 750 men’s college basketball players had entered the transfer…
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NORMAL, Ill. — Andy Douglas didn’t remember what he said in the locker room because he didn’t know what to say when he walked in there. Tasked with offering some sense of comfort to his Quincy High School boys basketball team following its 58-50 loss Monday night to Lisle Benet Academy in the Class 4A…
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QUINCY — Each time Kamren Wires stood up to walk, the pain surged through his left foot and ankle, and that cast further doubt on the possibility he’d play anymore this postseason. “The doctors said I was out for three or four weeks, and I believed them,” said the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s…
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COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — After what had been a restless night with little to no sleep, Andy Douglas got the phone call he was expecting. On the other end was Tom Lepper, the voice Douglas needed to hear. This was only 12 hours or so after the Quincy High School boys basketball team had lost 44-43…
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COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — No over-the-counter remedy could help those associated with the Quincy High School boys basketball program overcome the gnawing disappointment which had lingered for the equivalent of a calendar year. This wasn’t heartburn. This was heartache. “We know what it feels like to be one inch away,” said senior point guard Kamren Wires,…
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QUINCY — Initially, Taya Stevenson tried to ignore everyone’s urging. Late last spring, just before the Quincy University women’s basketball players headed into their semester finals, Stevenson couldn’t get herself physically or mentally right. She randomly passed out and was treated in Blessing Hospital’s emergency room, yet continued to feel something was amiss. Doctors couldn’t…
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MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Griffin Kirn’s transition to the NCAA Division I level has been smooth. The Quincy Notre Dame graduate and former Quincy University ace is 2-0 in three starts with a 2.04 ERA at West Virginia. Earlier this week, the left-hander was named the Co-Big 12 Pitcher of Week after his shutout of…
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ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Amy Eagan is turning around the Lindenwood women’s basketball program in short fashion. The Lions went 20-9 in the regular season — a 13-win improvement over Eagan’s first season as head coach — and 16-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference to earn the No. 2 seed for this week’s OVC Tournament.…
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PALMYRA, Mo. — The injection of life Dalton Hill put into the Palmyra football program was noticed by administrators around the state. Waynesville is hoping he can do the same for its program. Hill, a Mark Twain graduate who spent the past two seasons as the head coach at Palmyra, recently accepted an offer to…
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QUINCY — Courtney Boyd believes the phrase “Coach of the Year” is a misnomer. “To be honest with you, I wish it wasn’t a singular award,” she said. The second-year Quincy University women’s basketball coach knows she can’t do everything alone, including engineering one of the best turnaround stories in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.…
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QUINCY — Max Booher announced his presence with a bang. A freshman guard on the Quincy University men’s basketball team, Booher came off the bench in collegiate debut and made 5 of 7 3-pointers and scored a team-leading 21 points in the season-opening loss to Findlay. After that, he kept right on shooting. Booher made…
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COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — Milton Whitfield had yet to experience playing in historic Vergil Fletcher Gym prior to Tuesday night. “All I wanted was a chance on this floor,” the Quincy High School junior guard said. For good reason. “It’s very beautiful, very big, very spacious,” Whitfield said. “The kind of floor you want to run…
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COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — As they filed out of Vergil Fletcher Gym on Tuesday night, the Quincy High School boys basketball players weren’t aware of who their opponent would be in Friday’s Class 4A Collinsville Sectional title game. “Either one, I’m excited to play,” senior guard Bradley Longcor III said. He knew there would be motivation…
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TAYLORVILLE, Ill. — Ari Buehler’s bright smile said it all. “I guess it does,” she said. The euphoric moment the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team experienced Monday night, beating Mt. Vernon 55-54 to win the Class 3A Taylorville Super-Sectional and earn a final four berth, had the Raiders smiling, giggling and even crying as…
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TAYLORVILLE, Ill. — As Ari Buehler stepped to the free-throw line with the chance to nudge the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team closer to a state tournament berth, her mind circled back to a year ago when the Raiders’ season ended with her miss at the charity stripe. “Oh, yeah, for sure,” Buehler said.…
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QUINCY — Karsyn Stratton felt the vibes. “I got here and I was loose and I was like, ‘Let’s have some fun today,’” she said. Quincy University women’s basketball coach Courtney Boyd felt that, too. ‘I looked at the team and I said, ‘I feel bad for whoever steps in the gym today because you…
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QUINCY — The last impression is the one that lingers. The Quincy University men’s basketball players were well aware of that. “How is it going to end?” junior guard El Sieger said. “Is it going to end just by losing? Or are we going to compete and win? I think it was definitely good going…
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QUINCY — Here is the area scoreboard for Saturday, March 1: Girls basketball Class 3 District 6 championship South Shelby 39, Highland 19 Class 2 District 6 championship Canton 61, Milan 35 Class 1 District 10 championship North Shelby 50, La Plata 39 Men’s basketball Quincy University 89, Indianapolis 77 Lincoln Land 75, John Wood…
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WAVERLY, Ill. — One of the first things Central-Southeastern girls basketball coach Matt Long reminded his players at halftime Thursday night is they trailed by only six points. “He was right,” CSE senior forward Lauren Miller said. “We were only down six. For as bad as things had been, that had to mean something.” It…
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WAVERLY, Ill. — When practice is finished, Lexi Niekamp isn’t. A freshman guard on the Central-Southeastern girls basketball team, Niekamp typically heads home after practice and puts herself through another tedious workout inside the indoor shooting facility on her family’s property. “Every night I’m in there shooting,” Niekamp said. Same shots, same rhythm, same amount.…
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