SPRINGFIELD — The Alton Redbirds hit postseason girls basketball play with a bruised psyche, courtesy of the Edwardsville Tigers.

“The bad thing about playing this game is it’s such a moral defeat,” Alton coach Bob Rickman said after Thursday’s 78-12 defeat at Edwardsville. “You feel bad after a game like this and then you’ve got to get your girls energized for a game against Quincy in a game that we could compete in.”

The Redbirds take a 3-22 record into a quarterfinal with the 11-14 Quincy Blue Devils at 7 p.m. Monday in the Springfield Class 4A Regional. The winner meets the top-seeded Springfield Senators on Tuesday.

Alton, which comes in on a four-game losing streak, lost 44-20 to the Blue Devils on Dec. 30 during the Christmas tournament at Jefferson City (Mo.) Helias.

“I know the score from our last contest with (Quincy) doesn’t look good,” Rickman said. “But we shot 13 percent in the game, and we didn’t take advantage of the turnovers enough and we let them sore a few baskets that we shouldn’t have.

“I think we’re a little bit better defensive team than we were then, but I told them, ‘We’ve got to play the way we’re capable of playing.’ Our problem is we just don’t do that enough. We don’t play the way that we’re capable of playing.”

Rickman would like to see his players revert back to when they nearly won a tournament in Hillsboro, Missouri with wins over the host school and Freeburg late in January.

“I think we have to go back and look at what caused us to have success,” Rickman said. “Some patience, some better defense and we’ve got to get back to that. We came back to tougher competition. There’s no doubt about that.”

Alton is led by sophomore Crishonna Hickman, who averages 7.4 points per game. Senior Ayonna Clanton comes in at 7.1 points per game, and senior Kenya Burnett is averaging 6.1 per game.

Also in the field at Springfield for a Tuesday semifinal matchup are O’Fallon (18-9) and Chatham Glenwood (19-10). The regional title game is Thursday at 7 p.m.