Game 83: Galesburg @ New Trier (Girl's Basketball)

Game 83
(2/6/10)
Galesburg @ New Trier (Girl's Basketball)

The plan was to broadcast a doubleheader in the suburbs. As the week wore on, I decided against a Saturday night game, predicting fatigue would set in by the end of the day. This was my weekend to head in on Saturday morning and record news, weather, sports, etc. The day began at 5:00 a.m. A short night after a late arrival to my hotel room at the AmericInn in Monmouth.

As you read in my blog for game 82, several instances occurred in the Monmouth-Roseville/Rockridge game to extend the night. When I awoke on Saturday morning, groggy-eyed and grouchy, I fixed up a pot of hotel coffee and showered.

I put in about 2.5 hours of work at the station, and headed back to the hotel at 8:00, heading directly to the little cafe/eating area for the breakfast. Normally I don't hit up the hotel breakfast in my stay at a hotel. It must have been a few bad experiences with stale doughnuts and nasty coffee. The breakfast and ambience at the AmericInn is sensational, a five-star breakfast for sure.

Only one other gentleman was in the cafe (it's designed like a small coffee shop), filled with the day's newspapers and a large TV with CNN. My first trip to the breakfast bar, I filled my plate with some sausage links and what appeared to be a few slabs of pancakes and a glass of orange juice. As I bit into the "pancake", it was eggy. Apparently, these were some sort of omelettes. Anyway, they were delicious, and I headed back for round two. I wanted to eat a hearty breakfast, so I could go the day with a small snack, and save my appetite for the Giordano's pizza at dinner time.

I retired to my hotel room to sneak in an hour nap. After a half hour, I heard a "BANG, BANG, BANG" on my door, followed by a, "HOUSEKEEEEEEEPING". I ignored it, hoping it would go away. It didn't. The cleaning lady walked in, saw my, and apologized and walked away. I decided against the rest of my nap, and packed up to get an early start to the north suburbs.

Low on fuel, I made a stop in Woodhull, off of I-74. Not knowing the big truck stop (Woodhull Plaza) was closed, I headed in that direction. Apparently, it's closed. Back the other way, it was BP. It was very windy on this Saturday morning, and cold to boot.

Back on the road, I checked Garmin, and it said that my arrival time at New Trier High School would be 12:51. That time was extended with my gas stop. I enjoy playing with Garmin, trying to prove it wrong by "driving strategically". If caught, law enforcement would call my strategy, speeding.

One of the things I notice when making these long drives, is the music. Flipping through stations is something I tend to do, one because it's just a guy thing to do, flip through stations (TV or radio), but secondly, I like to see what trends top 40 stations are doing.

Something that was overly apparent, was that there is TOO MUCH TAYLOR. Swift that is. Every station is throwing Taylor Swift in my ears. Every song the 17-year old spews is about love and a broken heart. She's 17 freaking years old! Anyways, off to the next station.

Driving up I-74 passing the "Big X", where the interstate meets I-80, I received a phone call. I had missed the call, apparently singing along to some Taylor Swift song. It was the second call I had missed from a 347 area code today. I called the number back, and it was an automated answering message from the Indianapolis International Airport. No voice mails were left on either call, so if you were stuck in Indianapolis on Saturday, sorry I missed your call.

I jumped onto I-88, and headed east. My big problem with this stretch of interstate is all of the tolls. Forgetting about this, I only have about $3.00 cash and change on me, and I certainly wasn't going to withdraw cash from an ATM for these darn tolls. I thought I could get by with the change, but when I approached the first toll booth, it read $1.90. Are you kidding me?!?!?! $1.90 per car, this highway should be paved with gold and lined with diamonds!!! $1.90?!?!

Well, this toll just about wiped me out, leaving me with a stack of nickels and pennies. I saved more time with a new strategy, passing through the tolls in the I-Pass lane. With all of the missed tolls, I will have to pay online. My bill will probably come to $1,614.90.

Getting closer to the west suburbs, radio scanning, I picked up a spanish station out of Aurora. The song was very catching, sounding a bit of a polka/comedy song. Not understanding a single word, I say comedy because of all of the expletives sprinkled in the song, bleeped out. Grabbing my digital recorder out of my laptop bag, I wanted to record some of the song, but it ended by the time I was able to get it started.

I arrived in Winnetka around 12:45, picking up a lot of time by driving "very strategically" in the suburbs, and stopped at a gas station to pick up some water and gum. I drove by North Shore Country Day. This was the school that Jereme Richmond attended as a freshman. Continuing on my pursuit for New Trier, the village of Winnetka is very scenic, something out of the movies.

As a matter of fact, Home Alone was filmed in the town, as were scenes from Oceans 12, Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, and Uncle Buck. (source: Wikipedia).

Winnetka also sits on the shores of Lake Michigan. With some extra time due to my early arrival, I strolled a couple blocks from New Trier to check out the frozen lake, from Kenilworth Beach.

Back over to New Trier, I pulled up to the Leslie Gates Gymnasium, built in 1928. This is a classic gym setup from the front doors, to the playing floor. I was greeted by a sign on the front door that read, "Welcome Galesburg". This would only be the beginning of the great hospitality shown by everyone at New Trier High School.

There is a ticket booth upon entrance in the foyer to the gym. Walking in through the main door, I glanced around looking at the scores and scores of state championship banners. This school has more banners declaring state championships than most schools have regional titles. Reading the IHSA records online (www.ihsa.org), I counted up 103 state championships in all of their programs. Coach Massey and his son counted 101 on the banners in the gym, and Wikipedia reports 120. For whatever number is correct, Sports Illustrated ranked New Trier (#12) in the NATION on top athletic programs in 2005.

This gym is obviously aged, but it so large and historical. My broadcast set up was in the balcony behind the scorers table and benches. A very narrow tunnel of steps takes you to this second seating area. A large individual would not fit through, that's how narrow the brick stair case is. The entire campus is historic and brick, much like the surrounding community. I am a history nut, and had trouble keeping my eyes peeled on the road driving through.

Scott Wiviott, the athletic operations assistant, came up and asked if I had everything I needed. I did, it was a great area to view the game and call a game. Scott told me that 1,500 were in attendance the night before with Jereme Richmond and Waukegan in town. I mentioned how much I loved the gym and he said there was a referendum on the last ballot to build a new athletics complex, but failed.

Athletic Director Randy Oberembt also came up to make sure everything was good. He said there would be a short recognition of coach Massey and his accomplishments before the National Anthem, with a plaque being awarded to Massey. Again, top notch hospitality at New Trier!

With an hour before the sophomore game tipped, I set all of the equipment up, and filled out the scorebook. Then I made my way to talk with coach Massey and get our pregame interview done. At halftime of the sophomore game, I headed down to the scorer's table to get pronunciations. There were some tricky ones. I have been meaning to mention in my blog the "Name of the Game" player, but have failed to do so on most of my writings. Today, may have the Name of the Year.

Glancing at #12 on the roster, Brigit Leuter, it looks fairly simple. My guess would have been (Bridge-It Loo-ter). I was really off. The pronunciation is (Bri-gheet Ly-ter). Name of the game!

My next stop was to get an interview from New Trier coach Teri Rodgers. We conducted the interview downstairs in her coach's office. She gave one of the best interviews of the season, and was very informative and talkative. Coach Rodgers is a class act.

The game began with a couple runs by each team. New Trier jumped out to a 15-7 lead after the teams exchanged baskets to start. Galesburg would jump right back into the game with an 8-0 run to tie it up at 15-15. The Trevians would go off on a 9-0 run to end the first quarter and lead 24-15 heading into the second quarter.

Starting the second quarter, New Trier extended that run, to make it a 14-0 run, and lead 29-15. That margin would continue through the rest of the second quarter, with the Streaks shooting cold in the first half. At the break, it was 40-26 and the Streaks were just (4-24) from the three-point line.

The third quarter was even worse on Galesburg, getting outscored 26-10 out of halftime. Maggie Lyon was a thorn in the side of the Streaks, with a few steals and baskets. Abbey Schmitt also got a couple baskets underneath, and the Trevians dominated the boards on the many missed Galesburg shots.

Galesburg would get some shots to fall in the fourth quarter, hitting five three-pointers in the final frame. It was too little too late, and New Trier would claim a 80-69 victory. Jessica Howard scored a game-high 17 points for Galesburg, and would be joined in double-digits by Sara Baker (11 points). The Trevians placed five players in double figures, led by a team-high 14 points from Molly Quirke. She was joined in double-digits by, Amy Hart (12), Maggie Lyon (12), Abbey Schmitt (12), and Jessica Blackwell (11). Galesburg finished (11-45) from outside the three-point line.

After the game, the only thing on my mind was Giordano's Pizza. A deep dish spinach and mushroom! I searched the nearest Giordano's location and placed my order. The restaurant I picked was in nearby Evanston. I tried to find a location that was on my way back to Annawan, however I haven't exactly fine-tuned by search skills on the Garmin.

Little did I know, this particular Giordano's was located downtown, right on the campus of Northwestern University. As you would expect, at 6:00 on a Saturday night, downtown Evanston was a pretty busy place.

Driving around Davis Street about 10 times searching for a parking spot, I noticed a van turning into an alley right next to Giordano's. I followed suit. As I parked, I noticed a "Violators will be towed" sign in this lot. Hoping I wouldn't get towed for a brief stopover to pick up my pizza, I rushed toward the eatery. A man jumped out of a van, and said I couldn't park there. Telling him it was just a brief parking spot while I picked up a pizza, he obliged, thankfully.

The pizza smelled delicious, and it was pure torture having to smell it for two hours. A deep dish pizza is not something you can snack on while weaving in and out of the traffic of the suburbs. The two-hour drive back to Annawan felt like it took seven hours. I had to make a stop on I-80 in Morris to get a snack to tied me over. Back in Annawan at my parents house, I dug right into that pizza!

The Quest File Notes
Game 83
Date: 2/6/10
Result: Cold shooting in the first half plagues Galesburg in 80-69 loss at New Trier
Miles: 480