QU women pull away from HLGU with 19-point run in second quarter

QUINCY — A 40-22 lead at halftime wasn’t good enough for Kaci Bailey.

“I don’t care what the scoreboard says. I was really mad at half,” the first-year Quincy University women’s basketball coach said. “We were up, but I didn’t care. This is a game where we need to work on us. We need to be clean and precise on offense. We wanted to focus on limiting our turnovers and getting to the offensive boards.”

The Hawks answered the bell in the third quarter, outscoring Hannibal-LaGrange 25-14 as they went on to post an 84-49 victory on Friday night at Pepsi Arena. The margin of victory is the largest for QU since a 101-38 over MacMurray on Dec. 17, 2019.

Quincy (2-6) trailed 14-11 after Eliana McClarie’s 3-pointer with 2:34 left in the first quarter. The Hawks scored the last four baskets of the first quarter, then scored the first 11 points of the second quarter to take a 30-14 lead.

Leading 40-22 at halftime, QU made six 3-pointers in the third quarter to blow the game open.

Regan Loconte made two 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with 14 points, tying Emma Knipe for game-high honors.  Maddie Spagnola came off the bench to make two 3-pointers and finish with 12 points, and Beth Matas Martin also made a pair of threes and scored 11 points.

“I thought Maddie played extremely well,” Bailey said. “She’s doing a really good job right now putting people in the right spot, and she’s bringing great energy. Anybody who listens to me talk knows if you bring energy, you’re going to find minutes here.”

The Hawks, who shot 31.8 percent from 3-point range in the first seven games of the season, made 11 of 24 3-point shots on Friday.

“They went to that 1-2-2 zone in the third quarter,” Bailey said. “It allowed us to face the floor and get our shots off. We made some, and it’s fun when you’re making shots.”

Makayla Hostettler led the Trojans (1-11) with 16 points.