Fohey, Brown combine to make all but two of Quincy’s field goals in victory over Peoria Richwoods

NORMAL, Ill. — After one of Taylor Fohey’s seven second-quarter baskets Thursday night, the frustration among the Peoria Richwoods girls basketball players was evident. 

As Fohey drove to the basket and muscled up two more points, one of the Lady Knights said, “What do you want me to do?”

Fohey scored 20 first-half points to help Quincy High School take a comfortable 32-17 halftime lead, and she finished with 26 as the Blue Devils earned a spot in the semifinals of the large school girls bracket at the State Farm Holiday Classic with a 56-40 victory at Normal Community High School.

QHS (12-3), the No. 3 seed and ranked No. 10 in the Class 4A state poll, will play No. 7 seed Morton in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Shirk Center. The Potters (13-3), ranked No. 6 in Class 3A, defeated Wheaton Warrenville South 55-38 and No. 2 seed Chicago Hyde Park 54-33 to earn their semifinal bid.

Top-seeded Normal Community and No. 4 seed Washington will play in the other large school girls semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday. Normal Community is ranked No. 8 in the Class 4A state poll, and Washington is ranked No. 9 in Class 3A.

Richwoods never figured out how to stop Fohey or freshman Jada Brown, who combined to score 18 of Quincy’s 20 field goals — and nearly all of them were within close range.

“We knew going into the game their posts were going to play behind us,” Blue Devils coach Brad Dance said. “That was going to work to our advantage. Our guards did a really good job of entering the ball, and our posts did a good job of finishing. We talked about not letting the ball stick and to keep sharing, and we did a very good job tonight.”

The Lady Knights made 10 3-pointers in their first-round victory over Plainfield North. They made eight against the Blue Devils, but they also missed 23. Quincy opted to take just six 3-pointers, none in the second half, but pounded the ball inside to make 21 of 36 field goal attempts.

“If someone (from Richwoods) went over to help, we knew there was an open person who could get an easier shot,” said Brown, who finished with 13 points.

Richwoods quickly cut into Quincy’s halftime lead when Kamryn Heider made two early 3-pointers to cut the score to 32-23 in the third quarter.

“It was really hard to guard them because we knew they shot from really far out,” Brown said. “We had to adjust and get farther out to close out.”

“We lost (Heider) a couple of times, but she was 24, 25 feet out … almost at the volleyball (spike) line,” Dance said. “Then (senior reserve guard) Bri (Lannerd) came in, and she kind of takes that personally. She was out there defending and did a really good job. We knew they were going to make threes. We just wanted them to be contested shots.”

Heider hit another 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter to get the Lady Knights within 40-29, but Brown answered with a three-point play and Leila Dade made a 10-footer to push the lead back to 16 points for the Blue Devils. Richwoods never got closer than 12 points thereafter.

The Blue Devils, ranked No. 10 in the Class 4A state poll, are guaranteed two games against state-ranked teams on Friday and Saturday. 

“That’s why you come here,” Dance said. “We’re excited. It was good atmosphere, especially in the first half. The second half got a little bit closer than it should have, but that’s why we’re playing these games. We’re getting a lot out of it, win or lose. The goal is to keep winning.”