Huffine’s ‘big-time play’ breaks late tie, propels QU women into semifinals of GLVC Tournament

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — It didn’t matter that Mikayla Huffine had missed eight of nine shots.

She never lost her confidence.

“I mean, they were leaving me open because obviously I wasn’t hitting the three,” said the Quincy University junior guard, who had missed all four of her 3-point shots in Friday night’s quarterfinal game against Missouri S&T in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at Hyland Arena. “But we needed a big-time play, and I’m capable of scoring at all levels.”

Huffine’s floater in the lane and ensuing free throw, as she was fouled on the play, with 1:12 remaining in the fourth quarter broke a 65-65 tie. The QU women’s basketball team, the No. 3 seed, then held on for a 74-69 victory over the Miners to advance to Saturday night’s semifinal game against No. 2 seed Drury.

It’s the first victory for the Hawks (23-7) in the GLVC Tournament since they defeated Lewis 59-54 in the semifinals in 2016.

Quincy led 63-59 after Karsyn Stratton made two free throws with 4:51 to play, but Missouri S&T rallied to tie the game on two free throws from Anna Gilbertson and a left-handed jumper in the paint by Katelynne Roberts. Cymirah Williams put the Hawks up by two with a free-throw line jumper, but a shot by Franchesca Metz tied the score again with 2:43 to go.

Both teams missed two opportunities to grab the lead. Stratton and Huffine both missed shots, while the Miners had a turnover and Anna Finley missed two free throws with 1:34 to play. 

Huffine, listed at 5-foot-4 in the program, finally broke the tie when she dribbled with her left hand from the top of the key and flipped in a shot from the lane while being guarded by S&T’s 6-foot-3 Roberts and fouled by Metz, who is 6 feet tall.

“I was going to kick for the three, but the three wasn’t there,” Huffine said. “I’ve been practicing all week on my floater, so it was there.”

“She finally looked comfortable,” Hawks coach Courtney Boyd said. “There were about 28 minutes of play she had that I’m not sure she felt comfortable. She was trying to find herself and find her groove.

“We spread the floor a little bit. We adjusted our post players, and so I think that opened the lane for her. (The Miners) were long, and we know that she’s not going to be able to get her shot off all the time. She did make a halftime adjustment and how she was going to get her shot off or if she was going to have to dump it. There’s a lot to be said for her to have the confidence to take it again, even after she missed so many shots earlier.”

The work wasn’t done for the Hawks.

Roberts scored with 55 seconds left, but on Quincy’s next possession, Nicole McDermott drove the baseline, drew a double team and shuffled a pass to Stratton, who scored from 10 feet out with 39 seconds left.

“Stratton had a heck of a game,” Boyd said about the senior guard, who led QU with 19 points. “For her to be able to step up and knock down that tough shot with people in her face was huge.”

Roberts scored again with 14 seconds left to get the Miners within 70-69, but McDermott hit two free throws with 10 seconds left. After an S&T timeout moved the inbounds pass into the frontcourt, Finley missed a quick 3-pointer. Huffine made two free throws with three seconds left to account for the final score.

“Honestly, if there’s time on the clock, this team is going to battle no matter what,” said McDermott, who finished with 16 points. “We’ve been in games this season where we were down by almost double digits with single digits left on the clock in the fourth quarter, and we came back and won. As long as there’s time on the clock, we’re all going to believe that we can do it, and that’s what drives us.”

The Hawks led much of the first half but were down by as many seven points in the third quarter. A banked-in 3-pointer by Addyson Kent gave the Miners a 50-44 lead, and it appeared it might not be the Hawks’ night.

“All I could do was smile,” Boyd said of Kent’s shot. “There was a two-minute stretch where I thought, holy smokes, they cannot miss.”

McDermott and Stratton then combined for QU’s next 14 points. McDermott had two three-point plays in the surge, with the second one putting the Hawks ahead 54-53 early in the fourth quarter.

“You put the ball in the right person’s hands, and eventually it finds the bottom of the net,” Boyd said.