Tale of two halves: QND outlasts Central-Southeastern despite Panthers’ epic rally

QUINCY — Eric Orne’s post-game expressions captured his thoughts perfectly.

There was the occasional wince, coupled with the rubbing of the top of his head with the palm of his hand. Even an occasional sigh.

“Today is my birthday … and I feel like I aged 10 years tonight,” said Orne, the veteran Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball coach.

Orne had just watched QND hang on for a 35-31 victory over Central-Southeastern before a Monday night crowd of about 450 at The Pit.

It was a game that matched a pair of state-ranked programs and saw Notre Dame lead 14-0  little more than five minutes into the game. The advantage grew to 27-2, and by halftime, the Raiders owned a 29-6 margin.

Game. Set. Match. Correct?

Not so fast.

Central-Southeastern had no second-half intentions of raising any sort of white flag. Instead, CSE nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages. The Panthers got as close as two points twice late in the game, the last at 33-31, before QND’s Ari Buehler finally clinched her club’s victory with a pair of free throws with 9.8 seconds to play.

“This was a near disaster,” Orme said.

CSE coach Matt Long admitted he let his players have a piece of his mind at halftime.

“They needed to hear it,” Long said. “The first half had been very frustrating, and our kids were embarrassed. There had been no effort or energy.

“Our play in the first was unacceptable, especially against a quality program like Notre Dame. It was humbling.”

Long called the first half the second-worst half in his career, which spans more than 30 years.

“The only half that was worse was 32 years ago,” he said. “We got shut out for a half that night.”

As upset as Long was about the first half, his account of the second half was just the opposite. For starters, CSE outscored Notre Dame 25-6 over the closing two quarters when the Panthers forced the Raiders into 12 turnovers.

“Effort-wise, in the second half, I was proud of every girl who was on the floor for us,” he said. “We’ll use this as a learning experience.”

Lauren Miller (12) and Karly Peters (10) combined for 22 of CSE’s points. Miller and Peters scored 20 of those points following intermission. Brilyn Lantz added seven points for the Panthers.

QND (13-1), ranked No. 7 among the state’s Class 3A schools, won its seventh straight over CSE (8-2), No. 8 in the most-recent Class 2A rankings. Notre Dame also won its 25th straight game at The Pit.

Sage Stratton, a 5-foot-7 junior guard who led the Raiders with 15 points, tried to put a realistic spin on what was a wacky game.

“In the first half, we came out strong,” Stratton said.

And in the second half? Well, QND didn’t.

“We’ll learn from this. We’ll learn to stay focused,” said Stratton, who scored all of her points in the first half, including 12 in the first quarter.

It was not, however, just about what QND did not do. It was about what CSE did do.

“Central did a great job of pressuring us, and they guarded us very well,” Stratton said.

Buehler, who is Stratton’s running mate in the backcourt, built upon Stratton’s thoughts.

“We had a ton of energy in the first half, but we came out and just stalled out in the second half,” said Buehler, a 5-foot-7 sophomore who was QND’s other double-figure scorer with 12 points.

Orne said QND, which made just one field goal over the final two quarters, spent most of the second half with its collective backs to the basket. Part of the problem, he felt, was CSE’s pressure defense. Another part was the Raiders’ unwillingness to look for a shot.

Buehler agreed.

“We weren’t looking to score,” she said. “We have to learn to adapt and adjust better than we did against Central.”

Orne felt a game of this nature probably shouldn’t have occurred this deep into the season.

“We played both our best half and worst half of the season,” he said. “Both teams should have probably gotten a half-win tonight.”

QND outrebounded CSE 27-21, fueled by Stratton’s seven and five from Lauren Hummel. Miller’s six boards paced Central-Southeastern.