QUINCY — Stuck playing from behind put the Galesburg High School girls basketball team in an unenviable spot.
It led to a uncharacteristic result as well.
Quincy opened Thursday’s Western Big 6 Conference tilt on a 13-1 run and held off Galesburg for a 36-32 victory. It is the Blue Devils’ first victory over the Silver Streaks since a 73-67 victory in Nov. 2009.
Galesburg had won 15 straight games against Quincy.
“I thought Quincy came out with a lot of energy. First part of the game, we didn’t match it,” Galesburg coach Evan Massey said. “That got us in a hole and made us play from behind the whole game.”
Galesburg (9-9, 2-3) scored the final five points of the quarter to trail 13-6 after eight minutes.
Quincy (7-5, 2-3) started fast again in the second quarter, opening on an 8-2 run to pull ahead by 15 points. The Silver Streaks again had an answer, closing the quarter on an 11-4 run to face a 25-17 halftime deficit.
The third quarter followed the same pattern as Quincy scored the first five points and Galesburg scored the final eight points to trail just 30-25 heading into the final eight minutes.
“It’s great to see the energy on the floor, we just need to work on sustaining it,” Quincy coach Martin Pazanin said. “They just need to learn to hold on to that momentum.”
The teams combined for just 13 points in the fourth quarter. Galesburg got as close as three points when Emily Meinert laid the ball in with a minute and a half left to make the score 35-32, but Quincy’s Olivia Edwards split a pair of free throws 26 seconds later to score the game’s final point.
Meinert finished with 12 points for Galesburg, but the Blue Devils forced the Silver Streaks to make just 3 of 28 shots from 3-point range.
“We knew what they were going to run. We knew their bigs were the biggest threat,” Quincy forward Bre Bordewick said. “We knew that they want to score in the post, so that’s what we tried to take away.”
Massey believes the struggles from deep effected the Silver Streaks.
“Obviously we struggled tonight,” Massey said. “We didn’t hit shots, and we let that effect other parts of our game.”
Megan Lingafelter added seven points for Galesburg.
Quincy 36, Galesburg 32
Galesburg 6-11-8-7 — 32
Quincy 13-12-5-6 — 36
GALESBURG (9-9, 2-3 WB6)
Legge 1 0-0 3, Lingafelter 3 0-0 7, Sampson 1 0-0 3, Tucker 0 0-0 0, McCarthy 0 1-2 1, Campbell 2 0-0 4, Range 0 0-0 0, Mixon 0 2-5 2, Meinert 5 2-7 12. Totals 12 5-14 32.
QUINCY (7-5, 2-3 WB6)
Edwards 3 1-1 7, Bordewick 2 0-0 4, Chevalier 1 0-0 2, Ozbelent 0 0-0 0, Sapp 1 0-0 2, Espinoza 2 0-0 6, Anders 2 0-4 5, Carothers 0 0-0 0, Nelson 4 2-3 10. Totals 15 3-8 36.
3-point field goals—Galesburg 3 (Legge, Lingafelter, Sampson), Quincy 3 (Espinoza 2, Anders). Fouls—Galesburg 14, Quincy 17. Fouled out—Bordewick.