Saving the best for last: QU women finish home portion of schedule with back-to-back victories

QUINCY — Not once in Maddie Spagnola’s five seasons with the Quincy University women’s basketball program had the Hawks swept a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference games on the same weekend.

So it’s easy to say she saved the best for last.

With Dami Adeyinka scoring a career-high 19 points and Spagnola recording consecutive double-doubles, the Hawks punctuated their home slate with a 72-54 shellacking of William Jewell in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Pepsi Arena.

Coupled with Thursday’s seven-point victory over Rockhurst, the Hawks won back-to-back GLVC games for the first time since beating — ironically — Rockhurst and William Jewell on the final home weekend in February 2016.

“I wasn’t even there for that,” Spagnola said. “That was a long time ago.”

And with three guaranteed games remaining — two regular-season games on the road and the opening round of the GLVC Tournament — the Hawks (8-18, 4-14 GLVC) have the chance to record the most victories since the 2015-16 season.

“Anything is possible when postseason hits,” said Spagnola, a guard who was one of three seniors playing their final game at home. “We’ve won consecutive games, so now we just have to keep playing.”

If the Hawks emulate the second half, anything truly is possible.

Quincy shot just 29.4 percent from the field in the first quarter and 31.3 percent in the second quarter, falling behind by as many as seven points. But Adeyinka scored 14 first-half points and her three free throws in the final 1:34 of the second quarter gave QU a 29-27 halftime lead.

“She kept us in the game single-handedly in the first half,” Hawks coach Kaci Bailey said. “We tried to keep giving her the ball, and she was being very aggressive. She played like it was her last home game.”

A spirited halftime talk, along with the momentum from Adeyinka’s play, sparked a third-quarter surge.

Quincy went on a 21-0 run over the final 5:13 of the frame and carried a 52-37 lead to the fourth quarter. The advantage grew to 21 points by the midpoint of the quarter.

“We were very hyped and it led to us coming out a little sluggish,” Spagnola said. “But in the second half, we dominated.”

Spagnola finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and six steals as her final two homes games resulted in the only two double-doubles of her career.

“It was one of the best weekends of my life, honestly,” Spagnola said.

Bailey considered it a perfect ending.

“There’s no better way to send those seniors off than by winning back-to-back at home,” Bailey said. “If I could have asked for anything, it would have been to give them a great memory leaving Pepsi Arena. We had a great crowd today and they all played extremely well. I’m super proud of them.”