Game 117: Galesburg @ Bloomington (Girl's Basketball)

Bloomington High School

Game 117
Galesburg @ Bloomington (Girl's Basketball)
Plus - bonus basketball
(1/29/11)

An IHSA record was broken on this Saturday afternoon at Bloomington High School, yet more fast food, the call I've been waiting for, and a lot of miles logged on the road, as the WAIK broadcast crew decides to drive up to the Quad Cities.



Jimmie Carr and I met at 9:30 a.m. to make the trip over to Bloomington. On my way over, I stopped in Monmouth to pick up some backup equipment. Since there were no other games being broadcast today, I wanted to have some backup equipment just in case. We haven't had any equipment problems this season, but I didn't want to be non-equipped just in case. I also picked up the Peoria Journal-Star sports page from the radio station, and did something I shouldn't do. I scanned over the back page, with the stats and basketball write-ups, while I headed to Galesburg.

We made good timing, in fact I think we passed the Galesburg team bus between Peoria and Bloomington on I-74. I had to make a stop in Carlock for some gas ($3.09) at Yoder's BP.

When we pulled up to Bloomington High School, the Galesburg bus was just unloading, so I was very happy with our timing. The last time I was at BHS was during the 2002-03 season, when I was broadcasting Geneseo Maple Leafs girl's basketball and they were playing in the State Farm Classic. I believe the game I broadcasted at Bloomington was Geneseo/Tinley Park Andrew. It's a neat gym, as we sit up in the balcony overlooking the playing floor from one of the baselines.

Since we arrived so early, I was able to just take my time to get things set up, hang the balcony, etc. Once everything was situated, I talked with Bloomington head coach Don Anderson, in his first season as head coach of the Purple Raiders. He has a very young team, since Bloomington graduated their top six players from last year.

View of gym from WAIK broadcast booth

Why Can't I Remember Purple Raiders
Maybe there is too much information I am trying to remember, and my mind just won't allow me to recall certain things. There are two instances of fuzzy memory today. For one, I nearly called Bloomington the BLUE Raiders on several occasions, not the PURPLE Raiders. The mascot memory bank must be in overload, or the Bloomington Purple Raiders information is filed next to the old Walnut Blue Raiders in my brain.

The File on the Purple Raiders
On some occasions, I just don't get a chance to do much prep on the Saturday non-conference opponents, and today was one of those cases. When this happens, it is a cram session just before the broadcast. When I spoke with Galesburg coach Evan Massey, he got on his phone and we sought out the nine wins that Bloomington has picked up this year. We searched the High School Sports.net website and Maxpreps, and I also showed him Athletics2000, which is a website most, if not all, of the Big 12 Conference schools use. Of all of the websites that schools use for schedules, etc. I like Athletics2000, the most. It's generally used by suburban schools, but some of the large downstate schools use it, too.

Knockout
Before the sophomore game, while the underclassmen were getting ready for their matchup, the varsity team was shooting around.  Not just shooting around, playing a game.  It was Knockout.  I think I was in high school the last time I ever recall seeing anyone play the game, and that is certainly the last time I've every played it.  I explained the rules of the game to Jimmie, as he had never heard of it.


A Record-Setting Performance
Coach Massey and I discussed these Saturday afternoon non-conference games, and many people can call them "trap games" coming off of emotional conference games.  This just hasn't been the case for the Galesburg girl's basketball team over the past two seasons.  They seem to have their best performances in these games, and many times record-setting performances.

At the start, Galesburg jumped out to an early lead and forced many Bloomington turnovers, however the offense just wasn't hitting their shots.  The team started the game 2-10 outside the arc, before a hot string of shooting kicked in throughout much of the game.

After the first quarter, Galesburg was 6-18 from the three-point line and had forced 15 Purple Raiders turnovers, taking a 24-10 lead.  Eight more three-pointers were made in the 2nd quarter, and the Silver Streaks were 14-34 from outside the three-point line in the first half. 

Galesburg kept hitting, making five more in the 3rd quarter (19-46 after three quarters), but getting the last three were tricky.  The Streaks shot just 3-26 in the 4th quarter, including missing 16 straight in attempting to get the record-setting 22nd three-pointer. 

The record-breaker came late in the 4th quarter, when Sadee Hamilton toed up a three-point attempt at the top of the key and swished it.  See the video below.



IHSA Single-Game Three-Point Record
The Silver Streaks broke their own record that was set twice in one day at the Charleston Holiday Tournament (21 vs. Paris and Rantoul).  Here is the rundown of the record-breaking performance.

Galesburg Three-Pointers
Jessica Howard -- 7
Mickey Rodriguez -- 5
Jessica Lieber --  5
Jamie Johnson -- 2
Baylie Boyer -- 1
Paige Klinck -- 1
Sadee Hamilton -- 1


Streaks Defense
Even though the three-point record is the "top story," the defense by Galesburg was the most impressive play by the Streaks.  The defense forced 15 turnovers, smothering Bloomington in the 1st quarter.  By halftime, Galesburg had forced 29 turnovers.  With the defense backed off in the 2nd half, Bloomington finished with 35 turnovers.

Minutes
Equally as impressive, in this 88-47 victory for Galesburg, was the fact that nobody played more than 15 minutes.  Jessica Howard, who scored a game-high 23 points played just 13 minutes.  All 15 girls played significant time.

On the Road
When Jimmie and I headed out of Galesburg, we discussed Friday night basketball results as well as the Quad Cities/Peoria Shootout that hits the Wharton Fieldhouse tonight for a doubleheader.  When I saw this on the schedule, I did some math in my head, wanting to make the trip up from Bloomington to broadcast.  My estimation was that I would not get to Moline until 5:30, at best, cutting it too close.

Jimmie mentioned that he had thought about going up there, so I said I'll drive up if you want to go.  It would be really strange for me to be covering a basketball game without headsets on.  The lineup was Rock Island/Manual in the opener at 6:00 and Moline/Peoria Central in the nightcap.  I've seen three of the four teams already, of course Moline and Rocky several times.  I caught Central down at the Springfield shootout in early December, and haven't seen Manual yet this year.

Jimmie Carr spills his pop at Culver's

Since I hadn't eaten since my French Toast breakfast, I needed to stop off for some junk food.  The decision was Culver's in Morton.  I had the Butter Burger double with the crinkle-cut fries and a Root Beer.  In a previous blog, I discussed french fries, and I would put the Culver's fries tied with White Castle, they are identical, and both pretty good.

We went inside for a to-go order.  While waiting for my food, Jimmie's order came out and a Culver's employee delivered it.  Jimmie was holding his pop in one hand without its lid on.  As he reached out to grab the sack of food, he held his pop too high and it spilled all over.  I took a picture of the mess he left behind.

My mind calculation earlier in the week was almost exact to a "T".  Before our fast food stop, Garmin estimated our Wharton Field House arrival at 5:29 p.m.  We had quite a wait at Culver's, so it slowed us down to 5:49 p.m.  However, I picked up the pace since the I-74 stretch between Peoria and the Quad Cities is pretty long and boring.  On top of that, Jimmie went into post-meal nap stage.  I picked up the pace, and let's just say I shaved 10 minutes off of the Garmin time!

Game Time: Part II
We got to Wharton Field House and it was a packed parking lot.  Usually I get to the gym well before any of the fans, so I'm not used to driving around looking for a parking spot.  There was an extremely long line that snaked outside the front doors and all the way to the edge of the building at the main parking lot.  It was going to be a packed house.

Not quite...Galesburg head coach Mike Reynolds and high school principal Tom Chiles were right in front of us, and they were told to go around (pass gate), so we all walked around the building and Reynolds mentioned, "this is the place where I came nose-to-nose with Andre the Giant, well not quite nose-to-nose," in reference to the old WWF events that were held at Wharton before The Mark....errr I-Wireless Center was built.

Rock Island starting lineups at Wharton

We came in through the back, and walked in next to where our broadcast booth is, press row.  I talked with Aaron Brenner of the Quad City Times.  He was covering a game in which Iowa City West attempted 50 free throws in a game where over 50 fouls were whistled.  I mentioned the Galesburg record-breaking performance hours earlier.

We took a seat in the 2nd row at the baseline, on the side opposite of where you walk in at Wharton.  As we took our seats, I pointed out and laughed about the officials for the night.  Joe Thompson and crew, who seem to be at every game!  We need to start car-pooling.

Here is first quarter video from the Rock Island/Manual game, as the teams trade baskets.  Manual's Brandon Watson scores in the first posession, followed by a Rock Island basket by Romal Davis.


I thought Rock Island would handle Manual, but that was certainly not the case.  The Rocks held a 36-33 halftime lead, behind Chasson Randle's (Stanford) 12 points.  Brandon Watson had 12 points for the Rams.  Manual's Landis Farmer hit a three-pointer to pull Manual as close as one-point in the 3rd quarter, but Rocky was able to hold them off for a 74-68 win.  Randle finished with a game-high 26 points, and Keith Keesey added 14 points.  Jeff White led the Rams with 15 points, and Watson had 14 points.

Before the Moline/Peoria Central game, Maroons coach Ryan Webber came over and said a quick word.  He is a Galesburg graduate.  He's not the only Galesburg/Moline connection, as Mike Owens Sr. and Mike Owens Jr. are rooting on Moline, as Drew Owens is a sophomore on the varsity.  Mike Owens Sr. was the head coach that took over the Silver Streaks program right after John Thiel, and his son, Mike Jr. played for the Streaks.  Both of them came up and spoke with Jimmie during and after the Moline game.

Moline jumped out to a 15-12 lead after the 1st quarter, and held on to a 25-24 lead at halftime.  There was a break in action during the 2nd quarter, when Central's Shamar Hill went down.  We couldn't quite tell what happened, but the trainer came out and looked him over, not sure if he hit his head, or got the wind knocked out of him, but they looked him over pretty good.  Hill was taken back to the locker room for a few minutes after leaving the floor.

Central made their run after halftime, taking a 40-34 lead after three quarters, and held on to win easily, 56-43.  Moline's Anthony Lindauer scored 24 points.  Central was led by a balanced scoring attack.

Game 117 Miles:  380