Simple is as simple does: Blue Devils settle in, take care of business against Maple Leafs

QUINCY — Once the Quincy High School girls basketball team quit trying to do too much, it proved to be too much for Geneseo.

The Blue Devils scored two quick baskets before turning the ball over five times in the opening 3 minutes, 19 seconds of Thursday night’s Western Big 6 Conference game at the QHS gym, forcing coach Brad Dance to call a timeout to “refocus” his squad.

“It’s almost like they’re trying to do too much too soon, and so you got to kind of settle them down a little bit and kind of dial it back,” Dance said. “I think some of the passes we were trying to do were the right idea; it was just a little too fast, or maybe it wasn’t the right timing.

“Once they get going a little bit, it seemed like they slowed down and played a little better.”

QHS was dominant from there on out, forcing mistake-prone Geneseo into 16 first-half turnovers while limiting the Maple Leafs to just three field goals to grab a commanding 46-9 halftime lead en route to a 72-19 victory.

Guard Madelyn Hamby scored a career-high 20 points, forward Jada Brown 18 and guard Myley Longcor 13 for the Blue Devils, who improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the WB6 in a game that featured a running clock in the fourth quarter.

QHS scored the game’s opening 15 points, and then tacked on 14 more in a row after a 3-pointer by Addison Snodgrass accounted for Geneseo’s only points in the first 11-plus minutes. After another Snodgrass 3-pointer, the Blue Devils tacked on 12 more straight points to go up 41-6.

The 5-foot-11 Brown, who entered the game averaging 19 points while shooting 73 percent from the field, was unstoppable when her teammates got her the ball inside. She scored 12 of her points in the first half, many coming on assists from Kate Mettemeyer.

“Kate is not a bad shooter, and we want her to look for that 12- to 15-foot shot, but you know, when she sees Jada down there and she can get it there, she’s a heckuva passer,” Dance said.

When QHS wasn’t scoring easy baskets off transition, Hamby, Longcor, Cameran Byquist and Mia Ellefritz combined for five 3-pointers in the opening half. Longcor finished with three 3-pointers and Hamby two as the Blue Devils shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the opening three quarters.

“We know each other very well, so it’s easy to know where we’re going to find each other on the court,” said Hamby, who entered the game averaging 7.8 points. “I’m trying to shoot a little more. They kicked it out a lot. We had a lot of open people out there. It’s good to get open shots.”

Dance was glad to see Hamby be more assertive on the offensive end.

“She did a good job,” he said. “She seemed to be around the basket a lot and she found some open shots.”

Geneseo (2-4, 0-2 WB6) was limited to just five field goals on 36 attempts and turned the ball over 24 times. Only four Maple Leafs scored, with Snodgress netting a team-high nine points.

Freshman Khloe Nicholson finished with seven points, eight assists, six steals and five rebounds for QHS, which led 68-17 after three quarters.

Three of the Blue Devils’ victories have now come by 42 or more points, but Dance knows they will face a stiff test on Saturday afternoon when they host WB6 foe Sterling (6-1, 1-1 WB6).

“I told the girls that defensively, you can make good teams look average and average teams look bad,” Dance said. “Geneseo, we took them out of a lot of things they wanted to do offensively. Whereas, with some of these other teams, we just can’t just sit back. We have to play.

“Sterling has a good post player and a couple of good guards, so it’ll be a good challenge for the girls. We’ve got six, seven pretty tough games coming up between now and Christmas. I’m excited for our girls.”