Schreacke’s epic state tournament performance is one of legendary status

NORMAL, Ill. — The pain of slightly spraining her right ankle hobbled Abbey Schreacke for a short stretch of the second quarter Saturday.

Yet, it was getting poked in the eye that brought her tears.

“Once I got poked in the eye, I forgot about the feeling in the ankle, too,” Schreacke said.

No one who watched her put away top-ranked Winnebago at the free-throw line and guide the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team to the Class 2A state championship would have guessed anything was ailing the first-team all-state junior guard.

This was a virtuoso performance by arguably the best player in the state in Class 2A as Schreacke scored 35 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had four steals in the 63-56 victory at Illinois State University’s Redbird Arena.

“She wanted to be here,” QND coach Eric Orne said. “Nothing was going to deny her.”

Outside forces tried.

After scoring eight of QND’s nine points in the first quarter, Schreacke buried a jumper from the right elbow to open the second quarter. However, an awkward landing resulted in her right ankle rolling, and she grabbed at it as she got up off the floor and hobbled back to play defense.

Suddenly, her quickness and leaping ability were compromised.

“I’ve had weak ankles all this year,” Schreacke said. “I’ve been wearing braces all year. I knew I had to keep toughing it out and fighting through it. It was only the first half of the game and I still had to finish.”

She had more to overcome, too. With the Raiders trailing 22-15 and 4:17 remaining before halftime, Schreacke was fouled by the Indians’ Ella Provi while in the act of shooting. Actually, she was poked in the eye and had her contact knocked out.

Schreacke was in tears as she looked for the contact and tried to shake off the pain of getting smacked in the face. Still, she stepped to the free-throw line and made two free throws with her eyes watering.

“I knew I had to fight through it,” Schreacke said. “It’s the state championship. Do whatever it takes.”

That meant handling the ball and getting to the free-throw line down the stretch.

Schreacke went 4 of 4 from the line in the fourth quarter and 14 of 14 overall. She made her final two with less than four seconds remaining as her teammates began celebrating the title along the QND sideline.

Her 35-point performance came on the heels of a near triple-double in the semifinal victory over Pana in which Schreacke had 13 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists.

Even her defense was better than everyone else. 

QND assistant coach Bob Sheffield watched from the back of the media room as the Raiders — all 16 players and Orne — sat on the dais and talked about the state championship victory.

When the questions ended and before the Raiders made their way to the hallway, Sheffield pulled Schreacke aside.

“Did you realize in the last two games you guarded two first-team all-staters and made them go 3 of 16 and 3 of 18 shooting?” he said. “See, you can guard.”

They both laughed.

Schreacke’s dynamic defense was as important to the Raiders’ title pursuit as her epic offensive efforts were. Against Winnebago, Schreacke put the shackles on the Indians’ Miyah Brown and spearheaded a defense that limited the Indians to 33.9 percent shooting.

Brown, a first-team all-stater, went 3 of 18 from the field and finished with just 12 points. Against Pana, Schreacke shut down first-team all-stater Jillian Hamilton, who went 3 of 16 from the field and scored just 11 points. Brown committed two turnovers, while Hamilton had six.

It simply added to one of the best state tournament performances ever.

“She’s special,” Orne said. “I keep saying it, but she’s really special.”