Raiders’ reward for finishing road swing by beating Panthers is finally getting day off

PALMYRA, Mo. — No rest for the weary?

Well, not quite.

“We’ll have a day off Wednesday, but then it’s back to work,” Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball Eric Orne said.

Notre Dame’s 51-19 victory over Palmyra on Tuesday night marked the end of a five-games-in-six-days stretch for the Raiders. All those games were on the road.

“We were a little tired,” admitted QND sophomore guard Sage Stratton, who was one of three Raiders scoring in double figures with 11 points.

QND, which raised its record to 13-1, handed Palmyra (6-1) its first loss of the season. 

The Raiders, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, dominated the game from start to finish, holding Palmyra to six points or less in all four quarters.

“We couldn’t get our offense going, which is uncharacteristic for us,” Palmyra coach Tim Southers said. “But Notre Dame is a great team. There’s a reason they are No. 1 in the 2A state poll in Illinois.”

Abbey Schreacke’s 16 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots paced QND at both ends of the floor. Schreacke upped her career scoring total to 2,036 as she closes in on Ruth Kipping’s all-time mark of 2,287 points for a Quincy city player. Kipping played for Quincy High School from 1994-98. 

Blair Eftink added 12 points, including her 156th career 3-point field goal, establishing a QND all-time record. She entered the game tied with Kassidy Gengenbacher.

“We came out together and I thought we took it to them early,” said Orne, now 499-117 as QND coach.

That was important, Orne felt, because the recent schedule has left the Raiders down a couple of players who are battling an illness and/or minor injury. The most noticeable was Ari Buehler, who has started at guard this season as a freshman, but never left the bench against Palmyra due to illness.

Palmyra had problems all night trying to attack the QND defense. The Panthers turned the ball over 21 times, compared to six for QND.

“Our half-court defense has been solid all season,” Orne said.

Stratton, who nailed three of Notre Dame’s five 3-pointers, said the relative ease in which QND halted Palmyra surprised her.

“Palmyra’s always a tough game, so I was real surprised with the way the game (unfolded) and that big lead that we got,” Stratton said.

In fairness to Palmyra, the Panthers lost two key players during the game — guard Clare Williams and center Candra King. Palmyra, however, was already down by a substantial margin when each of the girls exited.

Williams turned an ankle and King was in concussion protocol, according to Southers, after her head hit the floor during a scramble for a loose ball.

“They’ll both be fine,” Southers said.

Sydney Compton led Palmyra with five points.