Dominant post play, strong rebounding carry QU women to GLVC road victory

LEBANON, Ill. — A strong start and dominant play in the paint helped carry the Quincy University women’s basketball team to a hurdle-clearing moment.

The Hawks outscored McKendree 11-8 in the first quarter and forwards Sarah Nelson and Emma Knipe combined for 24 points and 20 rebounds in a 51-48 victory Thursday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.

The victory moves the Hawks to 6-11 overall and 2-7 in the league, but more importantly, it is one more victory than the QU women had in two of their previous three seasons.

To keep the trend going, the Hawks will need to continue finding ways to exploit mismatches. They did so against the Bearcats by pounding the ball inside. The Hawks scored 28 points in the paint and owned a 46-28 edge in rebounding.

Quincy finished the game on a 6-2 run, making six consecutive free throws in the final two minutes with Maddie Spagnola going 4 for 4. Overall, the Hawks were 15 of 18 from the line.

Nelson scored a game-high 17 points, going 8 of 11 from the field, and snared four rebounds. Knipe had seven points and corralled a career-high 16 rebounds. Dami Adeyinka added 10 points for the Hawks.