Raiders work themselves out of frantic mode, gain separation in victory over Saints

QUINCY — The Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team got lured into the chaos.

“I feel like we kind of fell into that trap,” Raiders senior guard Sage Stratton said.

After scoring four points in the first 13 seconds of Saturday’s game against Bloomington Central Catholic, the Raiders missed 13 of their next 16 shots over the next 10:30. They also turned the ball over six times in the first quarter and missed three layups in the final two minutes of the opening frame.

“We were just getting a little too riled up,” Stratton said.

Midway through the second quarter, the Raiders found their groove and settled down. Spurred by a Stratton 3-pointer that broke a 17-17 tie, the Raiders went on an 9-0 run to create separation, and QND never let the Saints get closer than seven points the rest of the way in a 51-37 win at The Pit.

Those 14 points of final cushion did not reflect the comfort level QND coach Eric Orne felt on the sideline for much of the game. 

“We’ve been on this stretch where we’ve just had way too many turnovers, and it’s something we’ve been working on in practice. When we don’t get a shot off or something like that, it’s not postseason-ready basketball,” said Orne, whose team is ranked second in the Associated Press Class 3A state poll. “Playing a good team at home with a regional championship feel to it, it was frustrating because we turned the ball over way too much.”

After coughing the ball up 10 times in the first half and on each of their first two possessions of the second half, the Raiders turned it over just four times the rest of the game and made nine of their final 15 shots from the field, including all five in the fourth quarter.

“As we started to slow things down, we got ourselves together, started scoring like we wanted to and just played our good defense,” Stratton said.

Stratton’s tie-breaking, momentum-swinging triple came from the top of the key with 5:12 left in the second quarter.

“Coach Orne just said we needed to rotate better on offense,” Stratton said. “There was good rotation when I got that open three. That was really key on offense tonight, just rotating the ball and not going for the first shot we get.”

Orne expects nothing less from Stratton, a three-time all-state guard and the Raiders’ all-time leader in career 3-pointers. Stratton paced all scorers with 20 points.

“That’s what your senior captain Is supposed to do,” Orne said. “She hits big shots for us. She wants the ball in those situations.”

Raiders junior forward Tristan Pieper said Stratton’s long range bucket turned the tides for the Raiders.

“That’s what it seems like in a lot of our games. When somebody knocks down a three, it’s a big momentum boost for us, especially if we don’t have a lot of energy at the time,” Pieper said. “Once Sage hit that, we kind of just ran with it.”

Pieper put her stamp on the Raiders’ 21st victory of the season with 19 points, 18 of which came in the paint.

“We saw on film that if she was patient and we set good screens, she was going to get the ball a lot,” Orne said “She finished really well today. She was the one person that got the ball underneath and really put the ball in the hole like we needed to.”

For comparison, Orne harkened back to the Raiders’ 58-44 win over Palmyra on Dec. 17 in which Pieper had 22 points.

“It was like the Palmyra game. She wanted the ball. She made some big plays for us,” Orne said. “When you have that type if mismatch, you have to feed somebody who really wants the ball. She stepped up big for us.”

Pieper had to fight through Saints defenders fronting her and physical play on the interior, but she felt confident when her teammates got her the ball.

“Part of playing in the post is just working hard to get the ball,” Pieper said. “I’m not always open, but I keep working for it, and my teammates find me when I am open. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it in the end.”

Stratton’s 20 points and Pieper’s 19 meant the rest of the Raiders combined for 12 points.

“We weren’t as balanced as I would like us to be, but at the same time, we beat a really good team that we’ve had a rivalry with for many many years, including in the state tournament.”

Orne said the home stretch of the regular season, which wraps up Feb. 13 against Jefferson City Helias, will be crucial for the Raiders (21-2) to find their ‘A’ form.

“We had a C-minus game and still won against a good team, but we just have to clean it up,” Orne said. “It would help me sleep better if we were getting a better grade. We’ve got to get there. Our window of regular season games is closing. You start to look ahead at where we might be. We just want to play better basketball at this time of year. We want to go into the postseason with a hop in our step.”