Quincy girls roll past Moline, close in on third straight 20-victory season

QUINCY — Bring on the postseason.

Quincy High School’s girls basketball team put the cap on another successful regular season Thursday night when it overwhelmed Moline 73-51 in a Western Big 6 Conference game before a crowd of about 290.

Quincy, now 19-10 and one victory away from a third straight 20-win season, put four players in double figures in its final tuneup before opening Class 4A regional play at 6 p.m. Tuesday against Edwardsville (16-9) in Granite City. 

Quincy, which lost to Edwardsville 42-29 in its second game of the season just before Thanksgiving, will be chasing its first regional title since 2007.

“We’re excited about the postseason,” said freshman guard Khloe Nicholson, who turned in a 15-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist performance against Moline. “Edwardsville got us the first time we played, but I feel we’re playing pretty well right now.”

Quincy’s victory over Moline was its fourth straight. The Blue Devils closed their WB6 schedule with a 9-5 record and tied for third with Rock Island Alleman (22-9), which fell 52-27 to Galesburg (22-7, 11-3) on Thursday. Sterling (26-5, 13-1) won the WB6 championship.

QHS coach Brad Dance believes his club might be peaking at just the right time, especially on defense. Dance said Quincy, which has beaten Moline (13-15, 6-8) six straight games, was able “to take away” several key elements of the Maroons’ normal approach. That, more than anything else, helped set the stage for what wound up as a one-sided contest over the final three quarters.

“Our defense was definitely a difference, and Madelyn Hamby may have had the defensive game of her career,” Dance said.

Hamby, a feisty junior guard, helped disrupt Moline’s preferred high-post approach, and the Maroons never compensated. The Blue Devils took control of the game during the second quarter and never looked back, building a 39-27 margin by halftime and owning a 55-40 lead after three quarters. Quincy had squeaked past Moline 61-58 in the schools’ first meeting in early January.

“I feel like we’re at a good spot right now, heading into the regional,” Dance said.

Jada Brown (24), Myley Longcor (14) and Cameron Byquist (11) joined Nicholson as double-figure scorers for QHS, and Hamby (9) just missed. Those five players, who make up Quincy’s starting lineup, are all underclassmen.

Brown, Quincy’s top point producer with a 19.8 scoring average, collected 47 points in her two games against Moline this season. Longcor had 29.

Longcor, Brown and Nicholson all scored at least 10 points in the second half when Quincy pulled away from Moline. Leading the way was Longcor, who scored 12 points after intermission, with 10 coming in the third quarter. Longcor also was the game’s leading rebounder with nine and matched Nicholson with five assists.

“Myley had a few shots rim out in the first half, but we told her to just keep shooting,” Dance said.

Two of Longcor’s five second-half field goals were from behind the arc, punctuating Quincy’s total of seven 3-pointers during the game. Hamby meshed three 3-pointers, all in the first half, upping her team-leading total to 51.

“I could feel the adrenalin in the second half. I was pumped up,” Longcor said. “We were moving the ball well as a team and had a good flow going.”

Nicholson said there was a reason for the momentum Quincy built.

“We were more aggressive in the second half,” she said. “We also played better defensively.”

Tahlea Tirrell was Moline’s only double-figure scorer, ending with 23 points. Fifteen of her points came via five 3-pointers.