Game 84: United vs. West Prairie (Girl's Basketball)

Game 84
(2/8/10)
United vs. West Prairie (Girl's Basketball)
Class 1A Regionals (@ Biggsville West Central)

If the meaning of life is ever discovered, my bet is it comes from a mind while driving down a rural highway. Nothing opens the mind more than an open road. I have come across many different ideas while cruising down the lonesome highways across Illinois.

As I made the short trek from Monmouth to Biggsville, a brief stop was needed at Casey's for a Liter of Aquafina and some jolly ranchers. The jolly ranchers to keep that saliva happy. It was just a doubleheader broadcast, but there would be a long lull between games due to the three-point showdown.

I pulled into West Central High School right around 5:00 p.m. The United school bus was right behind me. Two of the officials for our first game parked next to me. One of them has been a familiar face on the journey to 100 broadcasts, with Joe Thompson again officiating one of the games. His partner, and the wheelman, was someone I don't know. The third official was Shawn Dobey, a buddy from Macomb.

My broadcast setup was on the stage, and the view was pretty good, and no band (always a plus for a broadcast). After getting most of my equipment set up, I headed down to talk with the coaches. First, I spoke with United head coach Dennis Mann. His team had a set back to Princeville early last week, followed by a couple losses. He said his team was as ready as they should be for the postseason.

After we talked, I said hello to West Central boy's basketball coach Charlie Carver. I invited him up to our broadcast booth to talk about his program prior to the West Central game later in the night.

Next up was West Prairie head coach Brandon Mize. His Cyclones have had a hard luck season. In the three games I have seen of them this year, they have played very well, only to go (0-3) in those games. Two of them were against a 20+ win Monmouth-Roseville club, the other to 20+ win Knoxville.

Coach Mize looked beat as I talked with him, and he said morale on the team wasn't very high heading into the postseason. Much the opposite as the Red Storm. This would not be a good sign of things to come. Mize also said two of his starters were sick and were out for the game (Taylor Harper and Megan Wallen). Harper scored 18 points in this very gym against the Heat last week in Lincoln Trail Conference play. West Prairie was down to just seven players, with one of them having very little varsity experience, in freshman Katie Hopping.

My broadcast partner Vanessa Wetterling had arrived and we looked over our notes. I run my own broadcast for the radio station from my laptop, with access to the radio station's computer via my laptop. Unfortunately, my wireless connection outside of Biggsville was zilch to minimum. We got on the air a little later than anticipated and was not able to play back my interview with Coach Mize.

United began the game in a route, jumping out to a 20-7 lead after the first quarter. The Cyclones committed eight turnovers in the first quarter. The teams battled in the second quarter, with the Red Storm outscoring the Cyclones (12-10) and it was a (32-17) game at halftime. Gina Long led a balanced Red Storm scoring attack with 8 points, followed by Brooke Armstrong's 7 points. West Prairie committed 16 first half turnovers, while United turned the ball over 9 times in the first two quarters.

At halftime, Marty Touchette, the Sports Editor at the Monmouth Review-Atlas stopped by during our break. He asked how many games I was at. Then he asked if I was going to write a book? Well, I certainly have laid the foundation for that possibility in this very blog. Any publishers out there???

The Red Storm fired out of the gates in the second half, outscoring the Cyclones (29-14). United was able to get some hot shooting from Taylor Toops, with a pair of three-pointers, and Augusta Chandler scoring seven points. Chandler was also tough down low, getting involved in four jump ball situations and pulling down several rebounds. Erika Webster lit it up in the third quarter for West Prairie, knocking down four baskets.

It was a slow-down fourth quarter, which created some turnovers on United with some stingy West Prairie defense. The Red Storm would claim the 75-43 win, forcing 24 Cyclones turnovers, while committing 21. A bulk of those United turnovers came in the second half.

Four players reached double-digits for United, led by Augusta Chandler and Gina Long with 16 points each. Taylor Toops pitched in 12 points, and Mollie Murdock added 11 points. Erika Webster scored a game-high 17 points for West Prairie, while Chelsea Derry added 13 points.

After the game, we spoke with Dennis Mann in the postgame show, then transitioned from the postgame show to the pregame show.

The Quest File Notes
Game 84
Date: 2/8/10
Result: United rolls past West Prairie 75-43
Miles: 102