Raiders survive Senators’ fourth quarter surge by grinding out regional championship victory

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — In the final seconds of a stressful fourth quarter, Sage Stratton and Ari Buehler took some time to relax and appreciate what they had just accomplished.

As Quincy Notre Dame junior forward Jenna Durst stepped to the free-throw line for two shots with 5.9 seconds left and the Raiders leading Springfield 44-40 in Thursday’s Class 3A Jacksonville Regional championship at the Jacksonville Bowl, Stratton put her left arm around Buehler’s shoulders, and the two guards watched Durst calmly sink both free throws to ice the game.

“We were like, ‘We got this,’” said Stratton, a senior and four-year starter for the Raiders. “We knew Jenna was going to make them. We were praying a little bit, but we were just enjoying the moment together.”

Buehler echoed that sentiment.

“We were just taking it in and enjoying the moment,” Buehler said.

This was as comfortable as Stratton, Buehler and their teammates had felt since the start of the fourth quarter because the Raiders had to grind out a 46-42 win over the fourth-seeded Senators in a game they were in control of through three quarters. 

QND never trailed in the first half and stretched their lead to 38-21 after outscoring the Senators 13-3 in the third quarter.

“When you walk into the gym, it’s go time, and for about three quarters, we did that tonight,” QND coach Eric Orne said. “It was just a scary fourth.”

That fourth quarter got more frightening minute by minute as Springfield continued to chip away. The Raiders scored just two points in the first 6:36 of the quarter, and Springfield found its offensive rhythm after going 1 of 10 from the field with seven turnovers in the third quarter. 

The Senators cut the deficit to five on three different occasions in a 1-minute, 5-second span, and after Raiders junior forward Tristan Pieper committed a traveling violation with 42 seconds left as the Raiders tried to break the Senators’ full-court press, the Senators’ Aniyah Rhinehouse put back a Keziah Toran miss to trim QND’s lead to 43-40 with 28 seconds left.

Abigail Malit fouled Buehler with 21.7 seconds left, sending Buehler to the foul line for two pivotal free throws, the first of which she missed. Flashbacks crept into Buehler’s mind. In last season’s Class 3A sectional championship game against Chatham Glenwood, Buehler missed the second of two free throws with 0.8 seconds left that would have sent the game to overtime.

“I missed, but I was like, ‘It’s OK. Just as long as you make the next one, it’s OK,’” Buehler said.

Buehler’s fortunes changed this time around. She made the second free throw, giving the Raiders a four-point cushion.

“You just say, ‘Come on kid, you got this,’ and she did,” Orne said. “She knocked it down.”

The Raiders forced an errant pass and a turnover on the next possession, but Malit stole Durst’s ensuing inbounds pass. Morgan Leininger missed a 3-pointer from the right corner, and Durst corralled the rebound and was fouled, setting up her game-sealing free throws.

“I’ve really been practicing my free throws and telling myself when I get in that situation that I’m going to make them,” Durst said. “My teammates have a lot of confidence in me. Coach Orne has a lot of confidence in me, so I’m glad I could sink the free throws when we needed them.”

Those free throws helped the Raiders breathe a sigh of relief knowing they have advanced to Chatham Glenwood sectional semifinals on Feb. 25 against the winner of the Decatur Eisenhower Regional championship game between Decatur MacArthur and Mt. Zion, which will take place on Friday.

However, Orne knows a repeat of Thursday’s fourth quarter could spell trouble for the Raiders.

“We missed way too many layups, way too many free throws, and turned the ball over in a lot of tough situations where you can’t do that in the postseason,” Orne said. “It turned into a grinder of a game, but if you try to play seven games in the postseason, you always have at least one grinder.

“It was more of a mental, emotional thing tonight. Hopefully we’re past it. Hopefully now that we have the plaque and we’re taking it home, we can breathe a little bit and get back to some Lady Raider basketball.”

Stratton, who was held to one made field goal and 11 points, said having a game like this so early in the playoffs will serve them well if they have the correct mindset.

“You always have to have those grinder games, and we just had it,” Stratton said. “Sometimes things don’t go our way, but at the end, we came together and were like, ‘OK guys, calm down. It just takes one break.’ We missed some wide open layups, but we only learned from this experience. We learned how to stay together in a really tough situation. I’m happy this happened so we know, say if it happens in the sectional. That’s just really what we need. 

“It was definitely a grinder night.”