Game 18: Springfield vs. Galesburg (Girl's)

Game 18
Springfield vs. Galesburg (Girl's)
Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament
(11/20/10)

To be honest with you, this has been an extremely stressful week. Now that the 18th game is in the books, I can rest easy and share my week one thoughts. Unlike last year, there were more stressful and anxious feelings going into this broadcast season.



The main reason for this is because of the heightened awareness of The Quest. Honestly, it feels more like work this time around. Last year was fun, because I knew that I could take some time off if warranted, and still reach my goal. With 150 games, there is little room for error.

In addition, I will throw it out there right now....there will be no Quest 3, LOL. Due to the increased amount of broadcasts and time, there is more quantity than quality. Many of this week's broadcasts I felt were weak on my part, due to a decreased level of planning for each.

However....after 18 games in one week, I feel victorious! Over the 16-week season, I must average around 9 broadcasts/week. I doubled that right out of the gates. On the flip side, this second week will not be as broadcast-heavy. Obviously, Sunday is a day of rest, but I will be using Monday as a rest day also.

This week is a lighter load, with my boy's basketball Thanksgiving Tournament schedule not starting until Friday. I will be in Quincy with the Galesburg girl's on Tuesday, and the Galesburg boy's host their season opener on Wednesday night against Moline. Then, a day off for Thanksgiving. Friday will start very early with a remote broadcst for Black Friday at Farm King. I will then make it to John Thiel Gymnasium for a flurry of basketball broadcasts at the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament (boy's), which will carry over to Saturday. I will be using these two days "off," to plan my week three and week four broadcast schedule.

Following Game 17, I made my way to the hospitality room for some dinner. After having some Pizza House sub sandwiches for lunch, I dove into some of their pizza with a bottle of water. I chowed down on ham and mushroom and cheese pizza.

After eating, I went to seek out coach Massey for our pregame interview. He was over behind the scorer's table during the Galesburg/Springfield sophomore game, so I waited until halftime. He came up to the booth at the break, and we talked about Jessica Howard's pending milestone, 1,000 career points. He asked how other schools had treated the 1,000th career point. I mentioned that typically the P.A. announcer makes mention of it after it is scored and then at the following game their is a brief acknowledgement, such as awarding a special game ball noting the occassion.

To make sure she was at 989 career points, I double-checked the stats that coach Massey had distributed at the start of the season, and then double-checked my scorebook, and compared my numbers with the Galesburg Register-Mail articles on the first two games. It was a consensus...she entered the Springfield game with 989 points.

The special basket came in the waning seconds of the third quarter. After driving to the basket, sitting at 999 points, Howard drew a foul. It was the seventh foul on the Senators, putting the four-year varsity player at the free throw line for a one-and-bonus shot. Howard made the free throw and became the 13th player in Galesburg girl's basketball history to reach the milestone. Video of the milestone basket can be seen on the home page at www.ihssn.net.

The Silver Streaks were able to hang with the Senators for three quarters, but Springfield used their explosive abilities in the fourth quarter to move to 3-0 on the season beating Galesburg, 90-62. The Senators led by just 8 points at halftime, 43-35. The Class 3A (#2) team outscored Galesburg 24-9 in the 4th quarter.

Springfield's Kasi Korza scored a game-high 31 points and Division-I prospect Zahna Medley added 22 points. Amber Cason (12) and Ashton Williams (10) also scored in double figures. Galesburg's Jessica Howard led the Streaks with 17 points.

After the game, Jimmie Carr and I discussed our travel plans for Tuesday at Quincy. He would drive down to Macomb and meet and finish the trip to QHS. Then, it was back to the radio station to upload more video from the weekend.

Game 18 Miles: 50