Blue Devils gain confidence with second straight victory over 17-win opponent

QUINCY — The Quincy High School girls basketball team just might be peaking at the perfect time.

The Blue Devils’ 40-25 Western Big 6 Conference victory Thursday night over a 17-win Galesburg club was the second straight win over a quality opponent, evening Quincy’s record at 8-8.

Earlier this week, the Blue Devils downed Springfield 38-37, that victory coming against a Senators team that also possessed a 17-win resume and was leading the Central State 8 Conference.

“I think we’re a different team now,” said 5-foot-9 junior Asia Seangmany, who led Quincy with a career-high 18 points. 

Seangmany’s teammate, Leila Dade, agreed wholeheartedly.

“That win over Springfield helped us tremendously,” said Dade, a 5-6 sophomore, who contributed six points and served as one of the Blue Devils’ chief ballhandlers.

Dade felt the confidence gained in the victory over Springfield continued to grow against Galesburg, especially in the second half when the Blue Devils pulled away for a relatively easy victory that ended a five-game conference losing streak. Quincy, which led 22-16 at intermission, is now 4-6 in the WB6. Galesburg (17-9) is 5-5.

“The girls are getting more and more confident,” said Quincy coach Brad Dance, whose team has just five regular-season games remaining before the postseason begins.

And arguably the most confident may be Seangmany, who buried a 3-point field goal at the third-quarter buzzer that proved to be the unofficial backbreaker for Galesburg.

Seangmany’s long-distance bull’s-eye gave Quincy a 29-21 margin and set the stage for an 8-0 run by the Blue Devils to open the fourth period. The only question following those exclamation points was not if Quincy would win, but by how many.

Seangmany admitted after the game she felt that 3-pointer demoralized Galesburg. Judging by the body language of the Silver Streaks, that assessment was accurate.

“I had (scored) 10 points by halftime, and I was feeling confident,” said Seangman, who says she needs to be more “selfish” on the floor. “There are times I need to shoot more and step up my game.”

Dance agreed with her synopsis.

“We want her to be a little more selfish,” he said.

Dade felt Seangmany’s pivotal 3-pointer helped set the tone for the closing eight minutes.

“We were more relaxed and confident in the fourth quarter,” Dade said. “We’re playing really well right now.”

Almost lost in the 15-point victory was Quincy’s defense.

“Our girls were just flying to the ball,” Dance said.

Quincy held Galesburg to nine points in the second half and limited the conference’s second-leading scorer, 5-foot-8 sophomore Kiarra Kilgore, to 11 points, including just two in the second half. She entered the game averaging 20.5 points per game, second only to Kammie Ludwig (24.9) of Geneseo.

“Our girls did a heckuva job holding Galesburg to 25 points,” Dance said. “That’s a good Galesburg team.”

Galesburg scored no more than eight points in any quarter. The 25 points were a season low for the Streaks.

“Our defense is what really saves us,” Seangmany said.

Taylor Fohey and Laci Novosel each added six points for Quincy. Fohey and Seangmany led the Blue Devils in rebounding with eight apiece.

Quincy will try and push its record above. 500 when it travels to Sterling for a 1:30 p.m. WB6 game Saturday.

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