Raiders settle in defensively, pull away from Crimsons to earn spot in Class 3A regional title tilt

JERSEYVILLE, Ill. — A minute into Monday night’s Class 3A Jerseyville Regional semifinal, Jacksonville led the top-seeded Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team 4-2 and maybe saw a glimmer of hope it could pull off an upset.

That faded fast.

The Raiders went on a 9-0 run to take the lead and then held the Crimsons to two points in both the second and third quarters to run away with a 66-24 victory.

“We were a little sluggish defensively getting going,” QND coach Eric Orne said. “Once we decided to play some good defense, we started to separate ourselves.”

The Raiders (26-4) had to get past the first quarter to do so. The Crimsons (4-25) hung around as Maressa Williams and Zara Harper combined for 14 points in the opening frame as QND led just 21-14.

“When we walked in the locker room before the game, it was kind of eerily quiet,” Orne said. “I think when a regional comes on a Monday it’s a little surprising how quickly it’s here. We shook that off and started sharing the basketball and making some great passes.”

Couple that with an aggressive defense and the Raiders rolled.

Sophomore forward Tristan Pieper led the Raiders with 24 points, while freshman guard Marie Eversman had 12 points and sophomore guard Ari Buehler added 11. QND forced Jacksonville to commit 25 turnovers.

Next up for QND is a matchup with Jerseyville (21-11) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the regional championship game. The fifth-seeded Panthers upended fourth-seeded Springfield 57-53 in the other regional semifinal.