Game 136: Knoxville vs. Brimfield (Girl's Basketball)

Knoxville Blue Bullets Mascot

Game 136
Knoxville vs. Brimfield (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A Sectional (@ Midland)
(2/14/11)

The battle of the Lincoln Trail Conference went to the Stark County Rebels, and they would move on to the Sectional championship against a member of the Prairieland Conference, either the Knoxville Blue Bullets or the Brimfield Lady Indians.

Back in July, I published my extra early preseason rankings in Class 1A girl's basketball.  I just went back and looked at it, and now that we're at the Sweet 16, I don't feel so stupid.  In fact, I had Knoxville ranked 5th in Class 1A.  I look a little smarter after their Regional championship and eventual win over Brimfield in the Sectionals.  When they started the season 2-4, I felt pretty silly! 

My Preseason Class 1A Top Ten (published in July)
Source: IHSSN Blog
1)  Havana
2)  Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City
3)  Hinckley-Big Rock
4)  Ridgeview
5)  Knoxville
6)  Woodlawn
7)  Annawan
8)  Jacksonville Routt
9)  (Winchester) West Central
10) Hardin Calhoun
*Seven of the teams are still alive, however Havana plays Routt in a Sectional championship.

As the Annawan/Stark County fans left the gym, the Knoxville/Brimfield fans started to trickle in.  It was about 7:40 and there were about half as many fans in the gym than the previous game.  I mentioned this on the chat room, and a fan of one of the teams in the chat room did mention that the fan bases were told to arrive at 7:45.

Just after 8:00, the Galesburg Register-Mail's Todd Rudolf arrived and took the table next to me.  He said he arrived at 7:30, because he wanted to get to the gym early.  It took him 30 minutes, because the line to the school was backed up a mile.  The parking lot at the school is small, and could not accomodate all four fan bases, so the fans from the first game were allowed to leave, before the new fans could park.  After everyone was in the gym, it was still a disappointing crowd.  The Annawan/Stark County game was definitely to capacity with no seats available.  There were several people standing in the corners of the gym.  Capacity of the gym is 1,196.

Brimfield Lady Indians

Sitting directly behind the team's bench, you are privy to hearing things you normally don't hear.  With the three-point shooters warming up, an unnamed Knoxville player let out a pretty loud belch.  She commented, "Eww, it smells like egg."

Knoxville took a 13-6 lead after the first quarter.  At halftime, the Blue Bullets held onto a 9-point lead, 22-13.  Abby Ball scored 10 points in the first half, while Katie Houston added 8 points.  Mackenzie Kelly scored 8 of Brimfield's 13 points.

In the 2nd quarter, one of the referees went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury.  He had to limp off the floor and couldn't finish the game.  The rest of the 2nd quarter was played with two officials.  One of the officials from the first game was still in the gym, so he changed at halftime and the game was finished with three officials.  One of the original officials for this game told me at halftime that he had done the same thing in a Supersectional game last year. 

Katie Houston was on fire in the 3rd quarter, scoring 10 points, lifting the Blue Bullets to a 35-23 lead heading into the fourth quarter.  At the 5:00 mark, Brimfield had closed to within five points when Knoxville coach Matt Gibson called a timeout.  After that timeout, Knoxville reeled off an 8-0 run.

Knoxville Timeout

The Lady Indians were able to chip into their deficit at times during the 4th quarter, but Knoxville would finish with a 51-37 win.  Ball and Houston combined to score 40 of their team's 51 points.  Kelly scored 14 points to lead Brimfield, whose season ends at 23-11.  Brimfield coach Jim Blane told me earlier in the week that his team had exceeded expectations after losing a pair of All-Staters (Paige Spietz - Missouri and Kelsey Herridge - Army).  Knoxville improves to 25-8.  The Blue Bullets are 22-4 since December 1st.  They defeated Stark County in November, 42-37.

After the game, the Knoxville fans sang Happy Birthday to Abby Ball's father, Jack Ball.

Knoxville athletic director Chad Bahnks asked me if I would be returning to broadcast the Sectional championship.  Unfortunately not, I said, due to the poor Internet connection.  It wouldn't have worked in my schedule anyway, as I have prior committments for the Galesburg/Sterling Regional championship at Geneseo.

I plugged in Garmin, and it directed me through Chillicothe and onto Route 116 through Farmington.  In breaking some speed limits, I was able to cut my travel time down 8 minutes from the original arrival time of midnight.  That 8 minutes is crucial, because my Tuesday morning wakeup call is 4:30 a.m.

Game 136 Miles:  112