Game 110: Normal U-High @ Galesburg (Girl's Basketball)

Game 110
Normal U-High @ Galesburg (Girl's Basketball)
Galesburg Mid-Winter Classic
(1/22/11)

The Galesburg Mid-Winter Classic, a late arrival, meandering about the hospitality room, and I learn what sublemated jerseys are.



It was nice to get a little extra sleep.  I took off at 8:00 a.m. so I could get to the gym at 9:00 a.m. to set up the equipment, do my pregame interviews, and get settled in.  The first game of the day was Peoria Notre Dame vs. United Township.  Notre Dame would win, 54-45.

I interviewed Galesburg coach Evan Massey at halftime of the game.  Once our interview ended, I asked him where Normal U-High was.  He said they had not arrived at the gym yet.  I stood near the doorway throughout the 3rd quarter, and the start of the 4th quarter, but no U-High.  The Pioneers did not arrive until a couple minutes into the 4th quarter of the Notre Dame/United Township game.  One of the U-High parents came in before the team, and mentioned that there were a few bad accidents on Interstate 74 between Bloomington/Normal and Peoria.

It was going to be interesting to see how the Pioneers came out to play.  The team didn't come out to the floor for warmups until 12:00 was left on the warm-up clock.  They left after just a few minutes of shooting, and didn't return until about 2:00 on the clock. 

The rushed feeling seemed to hit U-High, as Galesburg jumped out to a 25-14 lead after one quarter, however the Pioneers made a 2nd quarter rally, outscoring the Silver Streaks 15-12 in that frame.  The visitors made it a game in the 3rd quarter, as Galesburg held onto a 56-50 lead heading into the final frame.

Galesburg only had two field goals in the 4th quarter, but went 6-7 from the free throw line, and holding the Pioneers to just 6 points for the 66-56 win.  The Silver Streaks ensured that fans in the stands received a triple cheeseburger, making 14 three-pointers out of 55 attempts.  It was a stingy defense by the hosts, that forced 37 turnovers.

The turning point came during a 3rd quarter run after U-High had made it a one-point game, 45-44.  Jessica Howard came up with a steal and layup, followed by a Tai Peachey steal, who then dished off to Howard and nailed a three-pointer.  Howard finished with a game-high 19 points, and Jamie Johnson added 13 points.  Emma Stroyan (6'1" Fr.) joined Tatyana Peck for team-high honors, 14 points. 

U-High has a promising young team.  The Pioneers started three juniors and two freshman, and only have one senior on the roster.

After the game, I marched down to the hospitality room.  My lunch consisted of some Pizza House subs, a couple small slices of pizza, and some lasagna.  Also in the hospitality room were the WGIL broadcasters, Tom Meredith and Eric Gibson, Galesburg boy's assistant coach Troy Noble, and Galesburg assistant baseball coach Steve Schwab.

Remember: Rennie Clemons Dunking on Shaq?
We were able to get the Illinois/Ohio State game turned on, to watch the final 3:00 of the Illini loss.  Noble mentioned the Rennie Clemons dunk over Shaquille O'Neal in 1990, and that it could be found on Hulu.  Meredith seemed as excited as anyone upon learning this information, saying that he's been trying to find the video forever.  I made it a little easier for those that would like to travel down memory lane with the Illini/LSU game from 1990.  Here's the full-game video from Hulu...



Evan Massey -- No Illini Fan
At the conclusion of the Illini/Buckeyes game, Galesburg coach Evan Massey (a Wisconsin Badgers fan), came in mocking the Illinois faithful in the room by announcing, "Ohhh....that's just too bad, at least they played a great game and they tried real hard, that's all that matters isn't it?!"

Another discussion in the hospitality room was about something that I've never even heard of before today.  Sublimated jerseys.  Instead of trying to repeat what a sublimated jersey is, and getting it wrong, here is what I found from the website, www.fiveultimate.com.

SUBLIMATED JERSEYS
source: http://fiveultimate.com/team/sublimation/
Sublimation is an advanced way to customize your team gear. Through a process of fusing fabric with ink before the jerseys are cut and assembled, sublimation enables printing of the entire jersey and trumps some of the constraints of screen printing (screen size, color limitations, and the texture and weight of the screen printed ink). If you choose to go with sublimation, you can print on every inch of your jersey, from neck to seam, and across the entire sleeve.  Our sublimation process also allows you to use infinite colors and smooth gradients and shadow effects.  You could cover a jersey in photographs, if you wanted.  To get a better idea of what we mean, check out some of the sublimated jerseys Five has created in the past.  Since sublimated inks are fused directly with the fabric, the jersey will perform as well and feel as smooth as a blank jersey, no matter what designs you sublimate across the fabric.

First, large rolls of thin paper printed with special ink are placed on uncut, white fabric. The fabric and paper are then heated in such a way that the ink sublimates from solid to a gas with no intermediary liquid stage. This fuses the design printed on the paper to the fabric. After the designs are sublimated onto the rolls of fabric, the next step is to carefully cut each piece of jersey (torso, back, sleeves and collar) and assemble them so the artwork is correctly oriented. Finally, each individual component is aligned and stitched together. Neat, huh?

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Game 110 Miles:  50