The 1997 State Tournament
Thursday, March 6, 1997
After being sent off by a rousing assembly, the Streaks left for Bloomington/Normal at 9:00 am. The senior student body formed a tunnel that lead the team to their bus, and then as the bus left, the rest of the student body lined both sides of Fremont Street to cheer on the Streaks.
On the trip to Bloomington, the players presented Coach Peachey with a statue of his idol, Elvis Presley. "Tiny E" found a home in the front window of the bus leading the way to Bloomington.
The Streaks checked into their hotel (The Holiday Inn) and then it was off to Redbird Arena for a team picture and shootaround. After the shootaround, the team held a practice at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Jaque Howard represented Galesburg in the Three-Point Shootout. Although she didn't advance, she represented Galesburg well. Jaque was one of only two freshman shooters advancing to the state finals.
Friday, March 7, 1997
An early wake up call and breakfast at the hotel followed by a shootaround at Wesleyan. The Streaks arrived at Redbird at 11:00 for their first game vs. Homewood-Flossmoor. The Streaks were assigned their same locker room they had last year.
The Streaks beat Homewood-Flossmoor 66-42 to advance to the Final Four for the second consecutive year. The Streaks jumped out to a 27-17 halftime lead and never looked back from there.
After the game--the players ate and then returned to the hotel for some rest before taking in some of the night games between Chicago(Marshall)/Chicago(Mother McAuley) and Normal West/Loyola.
Saturday, March 8, 1997
Another early wake up call followed by breakfast at the hotel. After arriving at Illlinois Wesleyan for their morning shoot around, Molly Watson realized that she had forgot her shoes, Angie Galyean forgot her pass to get into the arena, and Jenny Zolper forgot her ankle brace. When Coach Rux tried to send Coach Hickey, and the two filmers back on the bus to retreive the items, the bus was nowhere to be found. When Coach Rux asked Coach Massey for his cell phone to call for a ride, Coach Massey replied, "I forgot my phone at the hotel." What leadership! All items and players, however, made it into the arena in plenty of time.
A 10:00 am arrival at Redbird Arena followed by a live TV game with Taylorville. An interesting note was that all timeouts lasted anywhere between 75 seconds to 2 minutes. TV timeouts came on the first deadball after the 5:00 mark of each quarter. The TV coverage did the Streaks no good as they lost their first game of the season.
A quick trip to the hotel for some rest before the third place game. The Streaks return to Redbird at 5:00 pm and prepare for Chicago(Marshall). The Streaks fall again; emotionally spent from the morning game and claim 4th in the state. Medal ceremony at halftime of the championship game brings smiles back to the faces of all the Streaks playes and coaches.
A late night return to Tobin's Pizza for pizza and charades. Brutal! (the charades, not the pizza). Sleep--Finally!
Sunday, March 9, 1997
A 10:00 team meeting followed by brunch at the hotel. Coach Hickey apparently didn't get the message. After the team meeting, Coach Hickey packed her bags and was ready to head home. Upon taking a routine head count, Coach Rux noticed Coach Hickey missing. Two minutes later Coach Hickey appeared, bags packed and walking through the lobby. Embarrased but hungry, Coach Hickey joined the team.
The Streaks arrived home for a 1:30 parade through town, a 2:00 welcome home assembly at the high school, and memories to last a lifetime!