Stratton’s future teammates give ovation as she celebrates senior night with current teammates

QUINCY — It was emotional for the four seniors on the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team when they were recognized before Friday night’s game against Clopton (Mo.) High School.

For Sage Stratton, it was especially touching that her future teammates and coaches from Drury University — in town to play Quincy University Saturday afternoon — were in the second deck of The Pit behind the QND bench. They gave her a rousing ovation when she was introduced with her parents.

“It made me smile,” Stratton said. “It makes me very hopeful for how they’ll treat me and welcome me next year that they would come out to support me as busy as they are and with what little time they have.

“They told me they were going to shout out when they announced where I was going (to college), and they kind of got the place going.”

The Drury contingent had plenty to cheer for as Stratton sank six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points to earn most valuable player honors in QND’s 63-34 victory in the opening game of the KHQA-American Family Superfan Shootout.

A pressure defense and the perimeter shooting of Jenna Durst jump-started the state-ranked Raiders to their 26^th victory in 28 games.

Durst, coming off a career-high 27-point effort three nights earlier against Quincy High School, continued to have a hot hand. She sank four 3-pointers and scored 16 first-quarter points as the hosts took command.

Her final 3-pointer came from the left corner at the buzzer to produce a 28-13 lead. The Raiders made six of nine attempts from behind the arc in the opening period and finished the night with 12.

“It’s definitely been a fun week,” smiled Durst, who scored all 19 of her points in the opening 10 minutes. “I have been shooting good this week, so I have a lot of confidence. I know I can knock it down.

“We had a lot of opportunities for threes, and they were pretty much falling for everybody. Whenever they sagged off me, my teammates made good passes to get me the ball. It’s definitely important to come out strong.”

Her emergence is a welcome sight for QND coach Eric Orne.

“She’s becoming a real asset and a real weapon for us,” he said. “She’s seeing the floor well, she feels good, she’s confident. When she’s feeling it, it’s pretty smooth and the shots look good. Now we have four big weapons out there.”

QND’s full-court pressure defense produced four turnovers in the first two and a half minutes and five in the first period to set the tone. The resulting fast tempo put Clopton on its heels, enabling the Raiders to find open shooters either on the perimeter or in the lane.

QND made 10 of 18 field goal attempts in the opening eight minutes.

“You never know what kind of emotions you will get on senior night, but I thought the energy was good. The vibe was good,” Orne said. “I thought we settled in, showed a lot of maturity and played good basketball from the start.

“We didn’t think they were super deep, so we wanted to wear them down as much as we could. Once we got the temp going, I thought Ari (Buehler) distributed the ball very well and found a lot of open people.”

It took a while for Stratton to join the fun. With less than two minutes left in the first half, she had as many fouls (2) as made field goals (2) even though her team was comfortably in front.

But she closed with back-to-back 3-pointers to stake QND to a 44-22 lead, then opened the third quarter with two more threes and a pair of free throws to push the advantage to 52-22. Her 3-pointer from the left corner in the opening minute of the fourth quarter started a running clock.

The Raiders made 11 of their first 17 shots from behind the arc.

“We were sweeping the floor together and were talking about what this night means,” Orne said. “I told her that she had already earned her scholarship, that what they would be looking for is her senior leadership, her ability to make the extra pass, to do the smart things and make smart plays.

“She did. She let the game come to her, and once it did, she just took off.”

Stratton admitted she had to battle emotions early.

“It was emotional walking out of the tunnel and seeing Coach Orne,” she said. “I’ve been with him for seven years, and I know we have little time left together. That was the most emotional part. And then having my future teammates here.

“I just kept shooting and trying to make stops. That’s just what you have to do. Winning MVP just capped off the night.”

Tristan Pieper scored 10 points and Buehler eight for QND, ranked third in the Class 3A poll. The Raiders play their third game in as many nights as they face Alton, ranked fourth in Class 4A, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the next-to-last game of the shootout.

Ashlyn Noah finished with 11 points for Clopton, which entered the game in a third-place tie in the Missouri Class 2 poll. The Hawks shot just 29 percent (13 for 45) from the field in falling to 17-3.