Game 4: Alleman vs. Dunlap

Game 4
Alleman vs. Dunlap (Girl's)
Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament
(11/16/10)

As if trying to broadcast an average of almost 10 games per week in a four-month period was not enough, I make the challenge even tougher by having a For Sale sign in my front yard.



My house has been for sale since April, and I have been very nervous about this quest to broadcast 150 games where I currently live. A majority of my games are well to the north, and inconvenient to drive all the way back to Macomb. In fact, my "home" games in Galesburg will be almost a one-hour drive....one-way.

To make this even more difficult, there has not been a showing for nearly two months. Let's just say I have a hard time keeping the house clean. It's a bachelor pad, and if not kept up, frozen pizza boxes spill out over the kitchen trash can, tooth paste is smeared in the bathroom sink, and all of my paperwork (box scores, rosters, programs) are strewn about my office floor.

So when I received a phone call in the late afternoon about a possible showing, I was tentatively excited. That was, until the realtor said it was in a half hour. It would take me longer than a half hour just to hide the dirty dishes and sweep the cheerios off the floor underneath the rug. Needless to say, it's been a while since I cleaned.

I had to turn down the showing, hoping they will reschedule. The fact is...if they don't reschedule...how interested were they in the first place? At any rate, I will keep the house clean!

My fourth game took me to the place I will broadcast a bulk of the projected 150 games, John Thiel Gymnasium at Galesburg High School. The first game features a team I am semi-familiar with, the Alleman Pioneers. Covering the Western Big 6, I am familiar with coach Jay Hatch's Pioneers and saw them over the summer, but this is an all-new Alleman team as they have graduated a bulk of their players from last year.

Arriving early, I was in the gym at about 4:00. Galesburg boy's basketball coach Mike Reynolds was conducting practice. Jim Lee from WGIL (the other Galesburg station that covers the Silver Streaks), was in his broadcast booth with the engineer fixing what appeared to be their MARTI antenna. The MARTI is a broadcast unit that transmits our broadcast back to the station. That's laymen terms. I don't know the technical terms! Jim said he had come out to the gym earlier to run a test and it wasn't working properly. This made me nervous.

The first team to arrive were the Alleman Pioneers. Coach Hatch sat down in the bleachers and I asked him for his starting lineups. He was unsure. This has been a trend for the first few games of the season. A few minutes later Dunlap arrived into the gym. I got Patrick Garst's starting lineups, as he was also unsure on who his starting five for the season opener would be.

Before the tip-off of this first game, the Illini West Chargers arrived to the gym. The team features Bali Campbell, of the IHSSN Basketball Diaries.  Before the first game tipped off, I headed down to get a pre-game interview with coach Zach Keene.  You can follow Coach Keene on Twitter.  We talked for a few minutes, and you can read about his team at the IHSSN Preview of the Illini West Chargers.  With time running out, I would get Galesburg coach Evan Massey at halftime of the Dunlap/Alleman game.

Dunlap jumped out to a 15-9 lead after the first quarter.  Lexi Hobbs had a nice start, and a good game for the Eagles.  The junior finished with 13 points.  She was a 2nd team All-Conference selection in the Mid-Illini last year.  Dunlap led 39-24 at halftime, and would win 72-53.  Other scoring leaders for Dunlap were; Jamie Nichting with 17 points and Alissa Recker with 13 points.  Alleman was paced by Carrie Hoepfner's 12 points.  Alleman was missing one of their top players, Zoe Kelso (6'0" So.).

Game 4 Miles:  50