Game 67: Galesburg vs. Effingham (Girl's Basketball)

Game 67
Galesburg vs. Effingham (Girl's Basketball)
Charleston Holiday Tournament
(12/27/10)

Holiday tournament time! My travels took me from Galesburg to Sterling to DeKalb last week, with layovers in Annawan and Crystal Lake. After spending the weekend at home for Christmas, I returned home on Sunday night. It would be a brief stay, just about 10 hours, before a 4 a.m. Monday wakeup call to head to Charleston.



I'm stubborn...and set in my routine. Every morning, I drive three blocks to the nearest gas station for my morning coffee. Many times in the past, the coffee was lukewarm, sometimes even cold. I stayed loyal to that gas station. Other times, there were no coffee cup lids. Frustrated...but I stayed loyal and took it in stride.

The last time I was home was leaving for work last Tuesday morning. That was six days ago. The gas station was out of coffee lids, but had pop lids that fit the coffee cups. At least it was a lid, but still a little messy on the road trying to take the lid off and take a sip. Six days later...STILL no coffee cup lids. My loyalty is waning!

I hit the highway at 4:30 and picked up my color commentator, Jimmie Carr, at 5:30 in Galesburg, and we headed to Charleston. I tried not to rub in his Dallas Cowboys loss on Christmas night too much, but it was certainly a topic of discussion. We talked other NFL topics, and of course, high school basketball. Jimmie shared one story from 1968, when Galesburg played Effingham. The Flaming Hearts were state ranked, but scouts took a plane to scout one of their games, and returned with a report that the Silver Streaks would win by 20-25 points. Galesburg would end up prevailing, by 30 points. Evan Massey would later share the story after his win over Effingham.

We arrived in Charleston around 8:20. When we originally ordered rooms for the week, I told my general manager to book rooms in Charleston. Last year, the broadcast crew stayed in Mattoon, about an 8 mile drive. Little did I know, Mattoon is where all of the "action" is, in regards to food. Unless, your choice happens to be fast food or pizza, typical college town fare. Charleston is kind of a strange town, with not much to offer for its size, especially since it is home to Eastern Illinois University.

The first game of the morning at Lantz Arena was Paris/Rantoul in girl's action. Paris put a running clock on Rantoul. During the game, Jimmie and I had our pick of the broadcast spots along press row. I staked my claim right at midcourt.

Rob Calhoun of Charleston's WEIU met us at press row, and showed us the hospitality room, and picked up our credentials. Rob and I email back and forth in getting the broadcast schedules for IHSSN. We conversed for about a half hour about the tournament and sports broadcasting in general.

I met Jeff Shafer, head coach at Effingham. This is his 14th season coaching the Flaming Hearts. We talked about the Silver Streaks, his opponent, and "The System." He mentioned that a lot of the sets he uses, he took from coach Massey. Shafer won his 200th game earlier this season. The Flaming Hearts lost their 6'0" Center to an injury just last night, in practice. Stephanie Robb, a freshman, was the 6th man for Effingham.

The only personal recollection I have of Effingham, is passing through during college on the way back from a Florida Spring Break trip. My friend, Charlie Harker, and I switched out somewhere around Effingham on the interstate. When I got out to take over the drivers seat, we both mentioned a funny smell coming from the conversion van. Hours later, driving down Interstate 80 near Princeton, our right rear wheel and axle came out and careened into the median. An extra force must have been helping me that day, because I was able to slow down, switch lanes, and pull off onto the side of the road safely. It's funny now, some of the comments made by my friends who were sleeping during the episode. After the initial bump with our loss on board, it shook awake my friends in the captain's chairs. One yelled out, "Whoah...what's going on," to which Charlie shouts back, "Holy smokes...we've got sparks back here!" My friend, Scott Sierens, riding shot gun retorts..."I think we lost a tire." A truck driver, who was following close behind during the incident pulled over ahead of us and came back to check things out. I have a picture of the damage, and will have to dig it out to post here. Even though it happened miles and hours away from Effingham, it all reverts back to that funny smell outside of that town. Where there's smoke...there's fire. There sure was that day!

The Silver Streaks started off slow against the Flaming Hearts, trailing 15-13 after the first quarter, and 30-27 at halftime. This was just the third time in 13 games that Galesburg has trailed at halftime. They are 0-2 when trailing at the break.

The offensive output improved throughout the second half, with Galesburg scoring 20 points in the third quarter, and 24 points in the fourth quarter. The Streaks pulled out the 71-60 win.

It was a very balanced effort by Galesburg, improving to 10-3 on the season. Mickey Rodriguez and Jamie Johnson were the leading scorers with 10 points each. Jessica Howard and Sadee Hamilton added 9 points apiece, and Paige Klinck, Jessica Lieber, and Myra Diggins each pitched in 8 points. Hamilton also had 5 blocks against Effingham. Diggins had an all-around great game, with some pivotal rebounds and loose ball pickups, and was named our First Glass "Breakout Player of the Game."

While shooting just 6-34 from outside the three-point line, Galesburg was 17-20 at the free throw line.

Hayley Jamerson scored a game-high 24 points for the Flaming Hearts. Tatianna Colclasure added 13 points.

Effingham committed 23 turnovers, and just 15 turnovers for Galesburg.

Favorite Illinois high school sports mascots
1) Wooden Shoes (Teutopolis)
2) Whip-Purs (Hampshire)
3) Midgets (Freeburg)
4) Flaming Hearts (Effingham)
5) Bunnies (Fisher)
6) Orphans (Centralia)
7) Caxys (Lake Forest Academy)
8) Marcos (Polo)
9) Piasa Birds (Piasa Southwestern)
10) Pharoahs (Tamms Egyptian)

With our doubleheader, it makes for an interesting post/pregame show. We made it work, with Jimmie interviewing Effingham boy's coach Ron Reed, and coach Massey joined us during halftime of the boys game.

Game 67 Miles: 245