| Turning up the heat: QND uses full-court pressure to get revenge |
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Created: 2/26/2008 | Updated: 4/30/2008
By MATT GOLDBERG
Herald-Whig Sports Wiriter
CANTON, Mo. — One of the scoreboards refused to stay lit during the opening minutes of Monday's game.
Once it finally stayed on, it kept busy, with the numbers changing at a rapid pace — on the visitors' side — as the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team cruised to a 77-38 victory over Canton.
The win provided the Lady Raiders (3-0) with some redemption after last year's 51-47 loss to the Lady Tigers at The Pit.
"As a coach, them beating us last year at home hasn't sat good with me for 365 days," QND coach Eric Orne said.
The scoreboard hardly missed any action during its 2-minute, 5-second slumber at the start. The game was tied at two at that point.
Canton (0-1) couldn't capitalize on QND's slow start and missed its opportunity in the opening minutes.
A few seconds after the scoreboard awoke, so did the Lady Raiders' offense. They began forcing turnovers and converting many of their 33 total takeaways into baskets viz their full-court press.
QND senior Renita Bunte (15 points, seven assists, seven steals) gave the Lady Raiders the jolt they needed with a fast-break layup off of a steal with 5:22 left in the opening quarter. That sparked a 27-5 run that tamed the Lady Tigers for good.
Lady Raiders junior Natalie Siebers (13 points, eight rebounds) said she thinks the Lady Tigers are one of QND's rivals.
"We just came out and wanted to beat them really bad," Siebers said. "Last year was kind of embarassing to us."
Canton first-year head coach Seth Minter said his team's goal is to play its best basketball toward the end of the season. Monday's loss doesn't affect that.
"It's not about coming out like this and getting our tails whipped like we did," Minter said. "It opens our eyes. Every single player knows that there's stuff that they can work on to get better."
QND piled on points with its leading scorer, Karlee Gengenbacker, saddled on the bench with foul trouble. Even though the sophomore didn't score in the first half, the Lady Raiders still led 46-20 at halftime.
Gabrielle Douglas, Morgan Grawe, Hilary Obert and Janell Vermeire stepped up in Gengenbacher's absence, combining for 10 points off the bench during the first half.
"(Gengenbacher) carried us in our first two games," Orne said. "She got picked up. If we're going to have a successful season, different members of this team are going to have to pick each other up."
The Lady Raiders opened the second half picking up right where they left off in the first. QND junior Chloe Barnes (eight assists, seven steals) scored six of her game-high 19 points in the first 2:25 of the second half. QND scored 12 of the first 14 points in the half to add to its already comfortable lead.
"The beginning of the third quarter is when we really picked it up," Siebers said.
Canton sophomore Tori Niemann (13 points) led her team in the losing cause. She scored nine of her team's 13 points in the second quarter.
Notes: Bunte's 3-pointer in the first quarter was the 107th trey in her four-year career. It tied her with former Lady Raider Jenna Dietrich atop QND's all-time list. ... The Lady Raiders forced a running clock in the fourth quarter for the second time in three games. ... QND is averaging 82.3 points per game through the first three games of the season. ... The Lady Raiders have won those games by an average of 34.7 points. ... Palmyra girls basketball players and head coach Brian Wosman were in attendance. The Lady Panthers (2-0) play host to Canton on Friday and play QND on Dec. 11 in Quincy.
mgoldberg@whig.com/221-3365
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