QHS 55, Jacksonville 49

Quincy opened the season Tuesday night with a victory on the road, holding off a furious fourth-quarter comeback by the Crimson.

Quincy sprinted to a 14-4 lead by solving Jacksonville's halfcourt ball press early, and the Blue Devils led 31-20 at halftime. Jacksonville cut the lead to three points in the fourth quarter and actually had a 3-pointer to tie the game with three minutes left, but it clanked off the rim and Macy Ferguson-Smith cleared the rebound, and the QHS lead was never threatened again.

Junior Hayley Ott led QHS with 19 points and did a great job steadying the team when Jacksonville's pressure caused turnovers. Junior Emily Hart had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and sophomore Stevee Nolan played in her first varsity game and came up huge with 13 points.

Brittney Winters and Brittney Burgess each had 15 points for Jacksonville. QHS forced four turnovers in the final minute and made six straight free throws to ice the win.

Quincy travels to the Chicago area Thursday for a game against St. Charles North, then gets ready for the home opener a week from tonight against Western Big Six foe Moline.

JV Game: Jacksonville 48, QHS 27. Audrey Holtschlag led Quincy with 13 points.

MVP: Stevee Nolan, who made her varsity debut a memorable one with 13 points and tenacious defense.

Game Balls: Sophomores Kala Griffin and Ashley Spiegelhoff, who will have to shoulder the load with star sophomore guard Shelby Wires sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury. Griffin had a steal and forced a turnover in the final minutes, and nearly knocked down the building by running into the wall in the fourth quarter. Mom, dad and grandpa agreed it's a good thing she only weighs 20 pounds.

Macy Rocks: Macy Ferguson-Smith also had two key steals in the final minute and played tremendous defense down the stretch.

Game Coverage: Check out the Jacksonville Journal Courier's game coverage at http://www.myjournalcourier.com/, it should be posted by tomorrow morning. Also, WGEM TV has its prep preview show Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. Several Blue Devils were interviewed at practice Wednesday for the show.

Get Better: Assistant varsity coach Michaela Fray missed the opener while recuperating from having her appendix removed. We wish her the best and hope she's back on the bench ASAP.

More Media Coverage: Make sure you check out www.wgem.com and www.khqa.com. Chris Duerr had some fun with his scoreboard tonight .... http://www.khqa.com/about/bio.aspx?id=88

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