‘I’m going to have some colorful shoes’: Fohey’s career-best scoring barrage carries QHS to victory, earns her family bragging rights

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Make no mistake, as the game progressed, Taylor Fohey knew how many points she had.

And how many she needed.

“I was aware,” Fohey said afterward, almost sheepishly.

The 5-foot-11 junior forward finished with a career-best 32 points — not to mention 10 rebounds — in leading the Quincy High School girls basketball team past Hannibal 55-42 on Tuesday night inside Korf Gymnasium.

Obviously, that career-best notation was satisfying in its own right, but more important to Fohey was what else that 32-point figure represented.

“That’s one more point than my dad, Dax, had for a career high when he played at Palmyra in the early 1990s,” she said. “He told me if I ever (scored more than 31) I could get a new pair of shoes for next season — and I’m really looking forward to that. I’m going to have some colorful shoes.

“It’s all kind of exciting.”

Fohey, whose previous career high had been 22 points, had three above-average quarters. She scored 10 in the first, eight in the third and 12 in the fourth, including Quincy’s final eight points of the game.

Fohey’s closing effort punctuated the Blue Devils’ victory, while erasing any thoughts of a last-gasp Hannibal comeback. The Pirates had inched within 47-40 with 3 minutes, 6 seconds to play, but the Fohey-led Blue Devils only permitted two points over the final three minutes.

“Taylor had a heckuva game,” QHS coach Brad Dance said. “We had talked to her about wanting the ball more.”

And that showed in Fohey’s aggressiveness in and around the paint. She entered the game averaging 13.9 points and seven rebounds per game.

“We worked a lot tonight on our inside-out game,” Fohey said. “If I was open, (my teammates) got me the ball. And if I didn’t have a shot, I would get the ball back out front. It’s a good feeling to be on a team that’s as unselfish as ours.”

Add Hannibal coach Shawn Gaines to Fohey’s list of admirers.

“She is tough to stop,” he said. “She gave us a lot of trouble. We’re playing a lot of young girls, and they’re learning a brand new system, but we’re getting there. Our girls tried, but things just didn’t go our way.”

Quincy’s victory improved its record to 18-11. Hannibal, which had won four of its previous five, dropped to 13-7. The Pirates have a combined 13 juniors, sophomores and freshmen on their 14-player varsity roster.

“Give Hannibal credit,” Dance said. “We got up as much as 20 points, but they fought their way back.”

Quincy never trailed in the game, and enjoyed its biggest lead (41-21) when the Blue Devils scored the first 12 points of the second half.

Asia Seangmany added 11 points, all in the first half, for Quincy. Leila Dade (8) was the only other Blue Devils player with more than two points.

Mariah Mayfield scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds to pace Hannibal on both fronts. Abbie Martin scored seven and grabbed five rebounds for the Pirates.