All for one, one for all: Raiders kickstart sectional semifinal victory with production from entire lineup

WAVERLY, Ill. — The attention opposing defenses pay Abbey Schreacke is warranted.

But if Blair Eftink and the rest of the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team’s starting five attack the basket with the kind of vengeance they did Tuesday night, opponents will find it harder and harder to double- or triple-team Schreacke.

Stopping the Raiders then becomes an unenviable task.

Eftink scored nine of QND’s first 13 points, then Schreacke scored 20 straight — she had all 18 of the Raiders’ second-quarter points — in building a 16-point halftime advantage in the Class 2A Waverly Sectional semifinals.

QND didn’t back off in the second half, invoking a running clock in the fourth quarter of a 73-42 victory that sets up a showdown with Alton Marquette for the sectional championship at 7 p.m. Thursday.

“I’ve been trying to get to the basket a lot more, and I feel it just builds my confidence to be able to score early,” Eftink said.

It changes the defense, too.

“It makes people have to guard more than just one person,” Eftink said. “It gives the whole team confidence, too, because we can use everyone out there and trust everyone.”

QND coach Eric Orne has been preaching the need for more balance.

“When Abbey gets going, sometimes that is detrimental to the rest of the team because they are like, ‘Oh, OK, she’s got it,’ ” Orne said. “That’s not the case. … Balanced scoring is one of the keys that came out of that. From here on out, the rest of the season you have to have five people on the court who are willing to score.”

The Raiders (27-3) do. Schreacke scored the game’s first basket on a turnaround jumper before Eftink and Lia Quintero combined to score the next 11 points for a 13-4 lead. Sage Stratton and Haley Schertel made consecutive 3-pointers to extend the advantage to 21-7.

Schreacke added QND’s final basket in a 23-point first quarter.

“When all my teammates have my back, it makes everything easier,” said Schreacke, who finished with 34 points. “Everything just flows. It’s just so much better.”

She found her groove right then. Schreacke scored twice off putbacks in the second quarter and finished the half making six consecutive shots. She had 24 of QND’s 41 points in the first half.

“My teammates are pretty good at finding me,” Schreacke said. “We were running our sets really good, and that’s what got me open.”

Eryn Cornwell and Eftink made the Raiders’ first two shots of the third quarter, and QND’s advantage reached 20 points when Schreacke made her third putback of the game.

“We don’t want to stop at halftime,” Schreacke said. “We want to keep pushing the accelerator.”

It’s a vital aspect the Raiders believe they are improving at doing.

“We’ve gotten separation, like we did at regionals, and then we just kind of let it go,” said Eftink, who had 16 points. “It was really important for us to finish the game like this.”

Orne has stressed not to take any chances.

“I’ve been doing this too long to know anything can happen,” he said. “Someone picks up a fourth foul. Someone rolls an ankle. Things could change dramatically quick. They knock down a couple threes and start feeling good. You just have to keep the accelerator down.”

Alton Marquette will force QND to do that to advance.

The Explorers (27-6) reached the sectional title game with a 35-28 victory over Illini West.

“We know they’re going to try to get downhill,” Schreacke said. “We’re going to have to play really good defense and help each other out. We’re ready for that.”

They better be because their toughness will be put to the task.

“Physicality,” Orne said of what concerns him. “They are a big, physical team. They like to do things their way. They’re going to come out and slap us around. How we respond off of that and their physical play early on is going to determine things. I’ll know early on if we’re here to play if we match that toughness.”