Shane Hulsey, Sports Writer
BELLEVILLE, Ill. — When the Quincy High School boys basketball team breaks their huddle with shouts of ‘Family,’ that is no coincidence. “It’s a testament to what they’ve built over the years,” Blue Devils coach Andy Douglas said. “They truly care about each other on the floor, and they care about each other more off…
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CHATHAM, Ill. — In a year’s time, Sage Stratton’s tears turned into a bright smile. “It really feels so amazing coming back and actually winning it,” Stratton said. It being a sectional championship game, which the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team lost to Chatham Glenwood by a single point last season. The Raiders had…
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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?…
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PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball coach Greg Altmix was curious leading up to Wednesday’s Class 2A Pittsfield Regional semifinal game against Petersburg PORTA just how the Raiders would react. “When you come into a new program, you never know how guys are going to respond in the postseason,” said Altmix, the first-year…
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PITTSFIELD, Ill. — The slight fadeaway. The tired legs from playing every minute of the game. Any number of factors could have contributed to the shot coming up just short. While the outcome was not what Tre Neiderman or the Illini West boys basketball team wanted, Neiderman accepted the result. “The fact that the last…
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CHATHAM, Ill. — The Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team refused to crack under the pressure. Their practice habits, especially when it comes to shooting free throws, have prepared Sage Stratton and her teammates for what they faced during Tuesday’s Class 3A Chatham Glenwood Sectional semifinal game against Decatur MacArthur. “We practice free throws so…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — Karly Peters heard Central-Southeastern girls basketball coach Matt Long loud and clear. With the Panthers trailing Petersburg PORTA 25-23 at halftime of Friday’s Class 2A Illini West Regional title game, Long’s message to Peters was short but powerful. “I told her, ‘It’s go time. Let’s go,’” Long said. Much of that encouragement…
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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — In the final seconds of a stressful fourth quarter, Sage Stratton and Ari Buehler took some time to relax and appreciate what they had just accomplished. As Quincy Notre Dame junior forward Jenna Durst stepped to the free-throw line for two shots with 5.9 seconds left and the Raiders leading Springfield 44-40…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — Twenty-two. Tre Neiderman and the Illini West boys basketball players have had that magic number in their sights since setting a goal during summer workouts to eclipse the program’s single-season record for victories. “We knew that we could get it,” Neiderman said. Now the Chargers have it. With a 57-40 victory over…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — The Central-Southeastern girls basketball team did not have its usual explosiveness on Tuesday, but Panthers coach Matt Long was not all that shocked. “Whatever the reason was, there wasn’t a lot of intensity in the gym tonight,” Long said. Several players, including all-state forward Lauren Miller, still battling sickness could have had…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — The first four minutes of Tuesday’s Class 2A Illini West Regional semifinal game against Petersburg PORTA were everything West Hancock junior forward Jadyn Climer and the Titans girls basketball team could have asked for. “The energy was up,” Climer said. “We were like, ‘This is going to be a good game.’” Then…
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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — The scoring run impressed Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball coach Eric Orne, but he was even more pleased with the attitude and approach that enabled the Raiders to go on that run. “We knew we had to come out here and just take care of business,” Orne said. That is exactly what…
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MT. STERLING, Ill. — Brown County girls basketball coach Dave Phelps may not prefer it, but he can live with Hornets senior forward Ashlee Markert leaving a practice early or even missing an occasional team activity. He knows it’s what Markert needs to do. Signed to play volleyball at Western Illinois University, the 6-foot-1 Markert…
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QUINCY — Dom Clay got all the tears out of his system on Friday night, but that did not make Saturday any less emotional or memorable. For Clay and the seven other seniors on the Quincy High School boys basketball team, Saturday’s clash with Jacksonville marked their final game at Blue Devil Gym. “It hit…
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BARRY, Ill. — Taylor Graham had no doubt he got some heavenly help to allow his pivotal free throw to rattle in. “It definitely felt like it,” Graham said. “To be honest, out of the hand, I thought I missed it.” That free throw, which came with 13.6 seconds left and gave the Pittsfield boys…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — It all started with a piece of paper. Shawn Watkins Sr. will never forget the day his then 5-year-old son, Shawn Watkins Jr., returned home from Dallas City Elementary School with a flyer advertising the Little Chargers wrestling club — a youth wrestling organization in Carthage — and showed it to his…
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MONROE CITY, Mo. — A quiet first half did not shake Sydney Compton’s confidence. Instead, the Palmyra senior forward channeled whatever frustration built up in the opening 16 minutes into dogged determination. After just two points and no made field goals in the first half of Tuesday’s Clarence Cannon Conference clash with Monroe City, Compton…
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Monroe City's hot 3-point shooting in first quarter sparks 24-point victory over Palmyra in CCC play
MONROE CITY, Mo. — Monroe City boys basketball coach Brock Edris joked with his team after the fact, but there was no joke about the effort his players put forth against Palmyra on Tuesday. Following a five-game stretch in which it went 3-2 with wins by a combined seven points against teams with a collective…
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LIBERTY, Ill. — Balanced and connected. When the West Hancock boys basketball team is both of those things — like it was on Monday — Titans senior guard Lewis Siegfried would hate to play against them. “It’s scary just thinking about it,” Siegfried said. The Titans put four players in double figures and clamped down…
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QUINCY — Brad Dance may not have seemed overly excited when the final buzzer sounded or when he got recognized following his 100th career win as the Quincy High School girls basketball coach on Thursday, but the fashion in which the Blue Devils helped Dance reach the century mark made him proud. The Blue Devils…
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QUINCY — Jamie Toole could feel the buzz. “It’s the energy, the smiles, the baseball stories,” Toole said. All are signs the Quincy Baseball Club, which will play its inaugural season in the Prospect League this summer, is on its way to a successful, fun-filled first season. The franchise hosted its first-ever event Tuesday —…
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CAMP POINT, Ill. — Lauren Miller did not make any excuses, even after she vomited at halftime of the Central-Southeastern girls basketball team’s game against Pittsfield on Monday. “It was just from all the hacking and coughing,” she said. “It seems like that’s just going around.” Miller, like several of her teammates, felt under the…
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MONROE CITY, Mo. — When their team allows the first 13 points of a game, a basketball coach may be inclined to make significant adjustments. But even when the Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball team fell behind by a baker’s dozen in the first 4:45 against Monroe City on Saturday, Raiders coach Greg Altmix did…
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MONROE CITY, Mo. — Quincy Notre Dame senior guard Sage Stratton could sense the Raiders’ defense was making Monroe City uncomfortable, and that’s just the way she and the Raiders like it. “That’s always our goal,” Stratton said. The Raiders held the Panthers to nine first half points and pulled away for a 57-27 victory…
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LEWISTOWN, Mo. — When the Highland girls basketball team fell behind by eight points a little more than a minute into the third quarter of Friday’s Clarence Cannon Conference clash with South Shelby, the Cougars’ mindset was simple. Flush it. “Coming out in the second half, they were knocking down shots, and we couldn’t let…
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LEWISTOWN, Mo. — It took a little more than a quarter for the South Shelby boys basketball team to find its rhythm. Once the Cardinals did, it was smooth sailing. South Shelby led 14-12 after the first quarter against Highland on Friday, but the Cardinals stretched that lead to as large as 15 in the…
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Sweet 16: Kassing scores 30 on her birthday as Hornets gain measure of revenge with win over Saukees
MT. STERLING, Ill. — Brown County sophomore Kenzie Kassing could have gotten her driver’s license on Thursday, but she chose to wait until Friday. She wanted as few distractions as possible from what awaited her Thursday night — a third crack at Pittsfield. “I had to lock in for the game today,” Kassing said. On…
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WARSAW, Ill. — Hunter Froman did a double take from the bench. Gavin Grothaus ran back on defense with his hands on his head and mouth wide open in disbelief. They were in awe of what Cooper Knowles had just done. It was just the cherry on top of a dominant sundae whipped up by…
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CANTON, Mo. — A humble beast. Kaden Oliver, a junior guard on the Canton boys basketball team, gave that moniker to Preston Brewer, the Tigers’ 6-foot-8 senior forward and a friend of Oliver’s for 10 years. “He’s probably the most humble guy I’ve ever met in my life,” Oliver said. “He’s very hard-working, takes criticism…
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CAMP POINT, Ill. — Tucker Cook and Bodine Marable heard Pittsfield wrestling coach Johnathon Peterson’s plea loud and clear. Nearing the end of the final dual Monday night at the Camp Point Central quadrangular, the Saukees needed to rack up as many team points as they did individual victories to make a clean sweep. So…
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