‘We wanted this super bad’: Stratton, Raiders blitz Bulldogs in sectional title game whitewashing

CHATHAM, Ill. — In a year’s time, Sage Stratton’s tears turned into a bright smile.

“It really feels so amazing coming back and actually winning it,” Stratton said.

It being a sectional championship game, which the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team lost to Chatham Glenwood by a single point last season.

The Raiders had the chance to make amends in Thursday’s Class 3A Chatham Glenwood Sectional title clash with fellow No. 1 seed Mahomet-Seymour.

“We wanted this super bad,” Stratton said.

Stratton and the Raiders exploded off the blocks, outscoring the Bulldogs 26-4 in the first quarter and running away with a 57-17 victory at the Chatham Glenwood High School gymnasium.

“We really showed no mercy tonight and kept our foot on the pedal,” Stratton said. “We wanted to make a statement, and I think we did.”

As Stratton looked back at the sea of QND players and supporters celebrating the win, she recalled the sting of how it felt watching Chatham Glenwood do the same thing after ending the Raiders’ season a year ago.

“Last year, I remember looking back and seeing this, and it was like a stab in the heart because you want this so bad,” Stratton said. “I didn’t want to feel that hurt again in a sectional.”

Stratton made sure she wouldn’t, draining all four of her 3-point attempts in the first quarter to help spur the QND stampede.

“(My shot) felt pure,” said Stratton, who finished with 18 points. “I was like, ‘OK, I’m feeling myself.’ After not shooting that well the past two games and being guarded so hard, when I saw a zone, I was like, ‘OK, this is going to be my game.’ I just made sure to take time on my shot, and I think that worked out well tonight.”

The Raiders’ lead swelled to as large as 28 in the second quarter and reached 51-15 by the end of the third quarter, putting the running clock into effect in the final stanza.

“This is what I’ve been waiting for,” QND coach Eric Orne said. “We’ve had a few statement games, like the Quincy High game was a big win for us, but this one was just a flat-out statement win where we commanded and controlled the game from start to finish.”

After Stratton’s blistering 13-point first quarter, Raiders junior forward Tristan Pieper went to work in the post in the second quarter. Pieper poured in eight of her 14 points in the quarter by converting three layups and a pair of free throws. Pieper and Stratton combined for 25 of the Raiders’ 36 points in the first half.

“Tristan getting involved early I think was a big thing to help us relax,” Orne said. “We just kept the pressure up, kept the pressure up, and as we started expanding that lead, you could see our energy and confidence growing with each possession.”

QND held Mahomet-Seymour (22-12), which had scored at least 54 points in each of its previous four games, to no more than seven points and two made field goals in any quarter.

“We knew our defense had to come out really strong, and we really did that,” Pieper said. “We were getting them to jail. We knew that they come off screens and handoffs looking to shoot threes, and they’re a really good 3-point shooting team. We just switched them, hedged really hard. We didn’t allow them to get a lot of threes off, and if they did, they were really contested and they weren’t making them.”

It was precisely the kind of response Orne had yearned for following a 46-42 win over Springfield in the regional final and a 62-53 victory over Decatur MacArthur in the sectional semifinals, a game that was within three points in the final two minutes.

“We’d had two really tough games that challenged us emotionally, mentally and physically,” Orne said. “What we set out to do was be the aggressor. It was time to hear the Lady Raiders roar tonight, and we came out and did that.”

The Raiders (32-3) hope to keep roaring into Monday’s super-sectional matchup with Mt. Vernon, which won the Civic Memorial sectional by defeating Marion 74-59 on Thursday. With a victory, the Raiders would reach their ninth final four since 2008 and their 13th in program history.

“This group wants to make themselves part of that tradition and legacy we have here,” Orne said. “We’re close. We have a lot of confidence going into Monday. It was really big for us to have a confident game and reestablish who we are.”

The work of avenging their sectional championship heartbreak is complete, but Stratton, who has played in two final fours and won a state title as a freshman in 2021-22, knows the Raiders’ mission is far from complete.

“There’s no finish line,” Stratton said. “We keep going.”