http://qui.live.mediaspanonlinen.com/rss/ Quincy Herald Whig en-us By FRANK CASHHerald-Whig Sports WriterCARTHAGE — It's been 42 days since the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team has played a home game.The Lady Raiders make their return to The Pit tonight, hosting Central-Southeastern in the Subway/KHQA SuperFan Shootout at 6:30 p.m.QND was 9-0 after its last home game, a 60-48 victory over Palmyra on Dec. 21. Fifteen games later, the Lady Raiders are still undefeated at 24-0 following Friday night's 75-58 win over Illini West."Everyone is so excited to play at home again," QND junior Chloe Barnes said. "It's going to be Senior Night and (C-SE) is going to be gunning for us. We've really grown and gotten closer as a team. It's been a long time since we've been home but the road has really, really helped us."Friday night's game didn't come without challenges. The Stampede, Illini West's student fan group, was out in force with plenty of noise. The Chargers didn't back down, making a couple of solid runs after falling behind by 19 points early in the second quarter."We've had big leads against them in previous games and they didn't last," QND coach Eric Orne said. "Part of that is because both of us like to play the same style and part of it is because they always play so hard. This was a great test for us tonight."The Lady Raiders clicked on all cylinders early in the game, taking a 29-12 lead late in the first quarter on Barnes' 17-footer. A 9-0 Illini West run early in the second quarter cut the lead to 33-23 when Randi Gronewold scored on back-to-back possessions.A basket by Renita Bunte late in the first half pushed QND's lead back to 49-29. An 8-2 Chargers spurt midway through the second half cut the lead to 55-45 before Orne called a timeout.He used the opportunity to remind the Lady Raiders of the importance of being aggressive and going to the basket."We were a little timid during that stretch," Orne said. "We weren't playing as hard as we are capable of. We got into some foul trouble and having Leigh (McLaughlin) on the bench with four fouls hurt a little bit. We were just unsure of things at times."The Lady Raiders responded to Orne's challenge during that timeout. Natalie Siebers went to the basket hard, drew a foul and sank two free throws. On the next possession, Barnes converted a three-point play and QND was back in charge."It was kind of difficult at times going inside on them," said Barnes, who scored a season-high 26 points. "They're so athletic and have such long arms that it was a little intimidating. During that timeout, we sensed it was time to get back to playing our game."Illini West coach Zach Keene helped keep his team in the game by playing a matchup zone at times."That's something that never happens around here," said Keene, whose team is 15-11. "Since these girls could walk, all they've played was man to man. But we don't have the horses to match up with QND. You stop one player and another one steps up."Last year, we lost to QND and that turned our season around. We're hoping we get the same result this year."Orne hopes playing Illini West will also help his team."This was the first time we got rattled in a while and didn't know what to do," Orne said. "If we continue to play hard and play with plenty of energy, we'll be in good shape."—sports@whig.com/221-3365 http://qui.live.mediaspanonline.com/new_story/2-2-QND-girls-win