Orne wants Schreacke to carry less of load, hopes Raiders will be more balanced

QUINCY — When Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball coach Eric Orne says he hopes junior Abbey Schreacke averages fewer points per game this season, he isn’t crazy.

Schreacke, who averaged 25.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.5 steals and 3.4 blocks per game during a shortened sophomore season, has been contacted by and/or offered a scholarship from several NCAA Division I schools. Representatives from Missouri, St. Louis, Drake and Bradley will be in attendance for Tuesday’s season opener against Keokuk, Iowa. DePaul, Butler, Evansville, Illinois and Illinois State also are on a growing list of interested suitors.

However, Orne believes the Raiders will be better this year if Schreacke doesn’t have to carry as much of the load.

“I mean, it was great Abbey averaged 25 points a game last year, but I don’t see her getting that this year,” Orne said. “If she gets 18 and we can spread that around between our other four guards, I think we’re going to be a lot more balanced team and a more dangerous team to defend. 

“Last year, teams put one, possibly two defenders on Abbey, and we didn’t have anybody else stepping up in that role. We were going to be easy to defend. We went to Drury (for team camp) this summer and ran into a lot of good Missouri schools who were really doing some things different offensively. They had a lot of people involved shooting a lot of threes. It was a good learning lesson for us. We adapted to what they were doing, and it’s been working out the first three weeks of practice.”

Return of Eftink, addition of Stratton should help immediately

Two players should help with balance and 3-point shooting immediately.

Blair Eftink, a junior guard, started as a freshman but played only five games as a sophomore before breaking her hand. Her perimeter shooting prowess should alleviate some of the defensive pressure Schreacke will face.

Sage Stratton, a freshman guard, will share the point guard duties with junior Lia Quintero. Orne expects Stratton to play a big role immediately.

“Having Blair back is huge,” Orne said. “Her broken hand was a huge blow to us. We basically had to put the offense through Abbey last year.

“Sage probably will be our third most potent scorer. She’s been ready for this position for a long time. With Lia, it’s kind of like having two point guards out there.”

‘When the ball is in (Schreacke’s) hands, the game changes’

But make no mistake — Schreacke will be focus of the opposing defenses. 

She shot 45.3 percent from 3-point range (38 for 83) and 81 percent from the free-throw line last year to go along with 10 double-doubles. Schreacke became the first player in program history with three consecutive 30-point games. She was an Associated Press Class 2A first-team all-state selection, and she was a second-team all-state pick by the Champaign News-Gazette.

“When the ball is in her hands, the game changes,” Orne said. “You never know what you’ll see. She can step back and hit the three, but she can also get downhill and score with pretty amazing ease down in the lane. She lets the game come to her. She doesn’t force much. She facilitates a lot. She had almost four assists a game last year, so I would expect see a little bit more of that even this year, if we’ve got her out playing outside and in our four-guard sets. 

“She’s special. There’s no doubt about that. I’ve rarely coached someone offensively who can do all the things she can do. That’s why she’s become a Division I recruit. At the same time, she’s our team leader. and she’s great to the last freshmen on the bench. She makes sure everybody’s involved. That’s probably the most special thing to me. She just loves the game,  and she loves being a team player.”

Orne says Eryn Cornwell will be the Raiders’ primary post player, with senior Lindsey Fischer and junior Amber Durst helping as well, and senior Haley Schertel coming off the bench. Orne is a little concerned about depth on a roster that carries five freshmen, especially against some of the larger schools on the Raiders’ schedule.

Raiders open with plenty of games in Quincy

QND plays 12 of its first 14 games in Quincy. The post-Christmas schedule stiffens quite a bit with road games against O’Fallon, Springfield, Rock Island and Jefferson City Helias, plus a matchup with Class 4A power Edwardsville in the QND Shootout in September.

“We don’t have a lot of size, so some of the schools on our schedule, we’re going to struggle against defensively,” Orne said. “We’ll be able to press more early in the year, but in the second part of the year, we’re going to have to choose our spots. The biggest thing for us is to stay injury free with the limited rotation we have.”

However, the Raiders shouldn’t have trouble scoring. 

“I think we’ll be able to get out and run, and we definitely shoot the three a lot better this year than we did last year,” Orne said. “It’s a transition we’ve made here. I’ve been an old-school coach, but I also realize the 3-point shot is kind of taking over. We’re definitely utilizing it a lot more than than we ever had before.”

And when the postseason rolls around, expect QND to be a tough out in the Class 2A field. After finishing third in Class 3A in the 2014 state tournament after a five-year streak of making the final four, QND hasn’t returned to Redbird Arena. The Raiders lost in the super-sectional to Pleasant Plains in the 2020 postseason tournament.

QND Girls Basketball Schedule