Game 137: Galesburg vs. Geneseo (Girl's Basketball)

Geneseo High School

Game 137
Galesburg vs. Geneseo (Girl's Basketball)
Class 3A Regional Semifinal
(2/15/11)

The Class 3A Regional at Geneseo is pretty balanced.  Take for example the #4 seed (Sterling) enters the tournament with two more wins and two less losses than the #1 seed (Rock Island)!  Entering the semifinals on Tuesday night, the remaining four teams have a combined record of (88-25). 



Despite the fact that the Galesburg Silver Streaks and Geneseo Maple Leafs didn't play until 8:00, I wanted to get to Geneseo High School well before the first game tipped off.  A couple reasons, mainly.  First, I am anal about getting to the gym and setting things up and being prepared.  Secondly, I wanted to see the first game between Rock Island and Sterling, and thirdly (ok, a few reasons, not a couple), I was told that there were going to be 11 media outlets covering the games tonight.

I picked up my broadcast partner, Jimmie Carr, at 3:45 in Galesburg and we hit Interstate 74 to Interstate 80 and made the trip to Geneseo.  I grew up in Annawan, just 13 miles east of Geneseo and spent a lot of time in the maple city growing up. 

Since this is my first trip to Geneseo High School since the 2002-03 basketball season, I failed to remember how to get to the high school.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep over the past couple days, it was honestly a little frustrating.  I broadcasted Geneseo boy's and girl's basketball just eight seasons ago.  How could I not remember which way to take?  I guess in my defense I was used to going to the school from the east, not the west.  I still think lack of sleep is partially to blame.  When I arrived at work this morning, I was talking to a co-worker and mentioned that I had my P.E. clothes in my office.  I meant my gym clothes for the YMCA.  It's looking more and more like Wednesday night away from the gym will be in my best interest!

Geneseo High School just recently became known as GHS.  Up until 2005, it was J.D. Darnall High School. 

We arrived pretty early, and got all set up in the gym.  Walking into the gym, there was not a soul inside, not even a custodian.  I looked at Jimmie, "We're the only ones here!"  Greg Smith, the technology coordinator gave us the rundown of the press box.  There was going to be four radio stations and a TV station broadcasting the Galesburg/Geneseo game.  In addition, there were two radio stations broadcasting the first game.  Rock Island's iHigh online broadcast would set up next to us, and a radio station from Sterling was broadcasting.  For our game, WAIK and WGIL are following Galesburg, WJRE is following Geneseo, and the student radio statio, WGRG is also broadcasting the Maple Leafs.  Cable station Channel 50 videos the Geneseo games.

There are two sides to the press box, which was added a few years ago.  It was not here when I broadcasted for the now-defunct WGEN back in 2002-03.  We just had a long table at the top of the bleachers.  We were going to be sardines, with just enough room to squeeze in three radio stations on our side.  It was taped off, so I had to really be creative in setting up our Cellcaster unit and my laptop.  I would have to fill out the score book on my knees. 

Home of the Maple Leafs

After getting the equipment set up, a few people started showing up for the three-point shootout.  It actually began at 5:15, and we headed down to the hospitality room.  There were sandwiches with turkey, ham, and roast beef along with bags of potato chips.  It was a meat tray, so a build-your-own sandwich.  The bread wasn't cut into small pieces, so I decided to just take the large hunk and make a big turkey sandwich.  Normally, I don't use Mayo or Miracle Whip, but with all of the bread, I needed to dress it up.  I only used one small packet. 

A couple coaches, one from Geneseo and one from Sterling came in a few minutes later.  One of them said, "Geez these sandwiches are big, gonna have to cut it in half."  To which another replied, "Or even fourths."  I chose oneths (did I just make up a word?).

At 5:45, I headed back up to the press box.  Brian Stuart from Rock Island's iHigh broadcast was there.  We talked for a few minutes.  He was stationed at the far end of our side of the booth, and WGIL would be filling that space for the second game.  He was worried how long it took WGIL to set up, since he did a postgame show.  I just told him that he shouldn't do anything different since that is where he was positioned.

I filled out my score book at the start of the Rock Island/Sterling game out in the bleachers, where there was more room.  I shot some video of the final seconds of the Rocky/Sterling game...



During my prep earlier in the day, I checked out the Massey Ratings, where you can project matchups between teams, a very neat process.  The Massey Ratings initially only covered football, and have been around since 2004 or 2005 (for football).  Just recently, the last year or two, they have added basketball.  The Massey projection had Sterling beating Rock Island, 41-40.  The final score was Sterling winning 45-42.  Not bad, Massey Ratings.  The predictions had Galesburg beating Geneseo 60-55 on the Maple Leafs home floor, which was correct in the victor, but was a few points shy on the final score (74-57).

Usually, the Galesburg girl's basketball team is always smiling and laughing, and very loose.  Tonight, when they took the floor there was a look of seriousness.  No smiles, no laughing.  I looked at Jimmie and commented on this, saying I didn't know if this was a good or bad thing.  Was this nervousness, or we're out to take care of business?  In all honesty, I felt that Geneseo was the scariest of the teams in this Regional.  That was just my perception.  The Maple Leafs handed Galesburg a season-ending loss in last year's Regionals.  Sure, a completely different season, but now Geneseo was on their home floor.  This is a tough Regional, and I told somebody earlier that it could be a Regional that Galesburg wins, or falls in the first game.

The Silver Streaks convinced me that it wasn't nerves, it was business early on in this game.  Off of the opening tip, Megan Young forced a tie-up and a jump ball situation that gave the Streaks possession.  That would turn into a Jessica Howard three-pointer, and the Streaks were off to the races.  They jumped out to an 8-2 lead early, and Geneseo called a timeout to adjust.

Galesburg was hot, and Howard made two more three-pointers in the first quarter, enroute to her seven on the night.  The Silver Streaks were 5-17 from outside the three-point line in the 1st quarter, and 7-16 in the 2nd quarter (12-33 at halftime), and held a 48-33 halftime lead.

The Streaks let the air out of the ball throughout the 4th quarter, holding a big lead.  In one possession (4:30 in the 4th quarter), Galesburg passed the ball around for two minutes.  The Streaks pulled off a big win, 74-57, and hit 15 three-pointers (15-45), and forced 24 Geneseo turnvoers.

Geneseo was led by Allison Wiese's 15 points, while Kaci Storm scored 11 points, and Devan Griffin added 10 points.  Jessica Howard led Galesburg with a game-high 21 points, and Mickey Rodriguez added 15 points.  Sadee Hamilton notched a double-double with 12 points, 14 rebounds.

Kaci Storm is the daughter of former Geneseo boy's basketball coach Brad Storm.  Her older brother, Tyler, plays basketball at Northern Illinois.

The Galesburg win sets up a #2 seed vs. #4 seed matchup in the Regional championship.  The teams are a combined 48-14.  Against common opponents, Sterling is 5-3, Galesburg 6-2.

When we got back to Galesburg, we noticed the gas station on Henderson/Dayton had gas at $3.19 at 11:00 p.m.  It was $3.03 at 4:00 p.m.  Driving just a mile down Henderson Street, Mobil was still $3.03.  I'm glad I drove that extra mile!

Game 137 Miles.  206