The Tournament Inside Scoop

March 4, 2000

The girls basketball team is selling 4th place T-shirts commemorating their 5th consecutive trip to the state finals. Shirts are $10.00 and can be purchased at the GHS book room. All proceeds go to help the GHS girls basketball program. Get yours today!

March 8, 2000

The Peoria Journal Star had this to say in yesterdays editorial column about the Streaks:

Silver Streaks should be proud 3/7/2000
G alesburg High Schools girls basketball team no doubt would have preferred to come home with a state championship trophy this past weekend. Cry no tears for the Silver Streaks and the hardware that says fourth place on it, however. For five consecutive years, the Galesburg girls have finished their season at Redbird Arena, home of the IHSA girls state basketball tournament. In that span, they have compiled a record of 156-20 - an average season of 31-4 - while lugging home medals from four of those tournaments. Fact is they are central Illinois reigning high school basketball dynasty, boy or girl. You could count on one hand in this state the number of programs in any sport that wouldnt want to trade places. Galesburg coach Evan Massey and his girls are going to bring the state championship title home to Knox County one of these days, and hopefully not from Redbird Arena but from the Peoria Civic Center. Even if they dont, theyre doing a lot of things right in Mr. Masseys neighborhood. In the meantime, give him and his kids a state championship for proper perspective. Instead of concentrating on their season-ending loss, they looked on the bright side of things: "We get to end our season doing something we like to do, which is play basketball," Massey said. Indeed, what could be better than that? Pay attention, guys. These girls are on to something.

March 7, 2000

Galesburg took home its fourth state trophy in the last five years bringing home this years fourth place trophy.

Sarah Pacheco broke her nose in last Mondays supersectional win over Harlem and wasn't diagnosed until Wednesday. The junior forward wore a mask borrowed from Knox College until a new one could be overnighted to her on Thursday morning, after the Streaks left for the state finals. Sarah wore the new mask for the state finals series.

Senior Stacy Boettcher made 7 of 15 three pointers in the state finals 3-point contest but did not advance to the final four. Congratulations Stacy!

WNBA MVP Cynthia Cooper was the speaker at the state finals banquet Thursday night. Cooper shared stories of her success, answered questions, and signed autographs after the program.

Galesburg presold more than 1,300 tickets for Fridays quarterfinal game with West Aurora, more than any other school. The IHSA even went as far as driving up to Chicago to secure Washingtons unsold tickets (400) and delivered them to Galesburg ticket manager Ron Spring to sell to the Galesburg faithful. Tickets were so hot that one Galesburg fan actually collapsed in line to buy his tickets. Medical attention was called to the scene but the man declined treatment until he had secured his ticket for the finals session. Another fan was involved in a fender bender while going to get tickets. Luckily a friend went by and he asked her to stand in line for him. After selling out of Saturdays ticket allotment, Galesburg ticket manager Ron Spring secured more tickets and pre-sold those out of the Best Western Hotel Saturday morning. Ticket buyers were there as early as 7:30 am to purchase tickets.

Former Streaks Molly Watson, Sara Wood, Jenny Zolper, Sarah Larson, Katie McGunnigal, and Gina Miller were just some of the former Streaks in attendance for the state finals series.

Who's your tailor? Galesburg and Fenwick did what they could to confuse fans in the third-place game, even before it began. Both teams have a black-and-silver color scheme. When Fenwick came out on the floor for warmups, some cheers could be heard coming from the Galesburg crowd. Fenwick called Galesburg over a year ago to ask Coach Massey just where he got his warmups from. His reply, "Breedloves in Kewanee" Breedloves handles nearly all of Galesburgs basketball needs.

Sundays welcome home included a fire truck ride down Main Street and a rally at the school gym. Players then signed autographs, and posed for pictures.

Galesburg tied at least two state series records while in Normal this weekend. Galesburg made 7 three point baskets in each of its first two games at the state tournament tieing the state record for 3-point baskets made in a game.

The Trueblood Connection. While at the state tournament, the trio of Mike, Ted and Kevin Trueblood all were involved in the Streaks weekend. Mike Trueblood, Sports Editor for the Register-Mail covered the Streaks from the sideline. Ted Trueblood helped the Streaks with scouting, and Kevin Trueblood has been helpful in some of the technical production elements the Galesburg coaches put together. Thanks to all three.

In the GHS coaches 3-point shootout held prior to each Streaks game at state, Coach Rux once again edged Coach Peachey in 3-point makes. Peachey went 1-3 and Coach Jaskoski went 0-2 and Coach Rux went 2-3 and was able to draw a foul after making his last attempt. Congratulations Coach Rux!

March 1, 2000

Talk about rough. If you thought it was rough on the floor during the Mondays game, you should have been in the stands. While cheering during the game, one student in the Galesburg student section caught an elbow in the mouth and needed three stitches when he got home. Wow.

Galesburg will leave at 9:00 am tomorrow morning for their 5th consecutive trip to state, after a sendoff assembly at GHS.

Sweet 16 t-shirts will be available tonight during ticket sales tonight from 5-8:30 pm. T-shirts are $10 and all proceeds go to help fund the Streaks trip to state. Buy your shirt and support the Streaks!

During the weekend you can keep up to date on the Streaks games by going to the Illinois High School Association where they will have live updates of games in progress.

Go Streaks!

February 29, 2000

Beautiful Northern Illinois University provided the backdrop to Galesburgs 68-63 win over Machesney Park Harlem last night. Galesburg advances to play West Aurora, a 60-41 winner over Joliet at 12:15 pm Friday, March 3 at ISUs Redbird Arena. Galesburg is making its 5th consecutive appearance in the state finals.

Heres an interesting fact. When you look at state appearances by schools both boys and girls, Galesburg comes out on top with 32 state appearances moving ahead of both Marshall and Quincy.

Combined State Appearances (Boys/Girls) (Sweet Sixteen)

Galesburg 32 Boys-26 Girls-6
Marshall 31 Boys-11 Girls-20
Quincy 31 Boys-29 Girls-2

Current consecutive regional, sectional, and supersectional titles now look like this:

Consecutive Regional Titles (All Classes)

Centralia Boys 25 1945-69
Paris Boys 18 1938-55
E.St.Louis Lincoln Girls 18 1978-95
Stephan Decatur Boys 17 1936-52
Mt.Vernon Boys 16 1940-55
Galesburg Boys 16 1955-70
Maine West Girls 16 1985-2000 (Current)
Quincy Boys 15 1942-56
Manual Boys 14 1986-99 (Current)
Peoria Central Boys 13 1987-99 (Current)
Galesburg Girls 13 1988-2000 (Current)
MacAuley Girls 12 1987-98
Carthage Girls 11 1977-87


Consecutive Sectional Titles (All Classes)

Teutopolis Girls 8 1983-90
Paris Boys 7 1938-44
Champaign Central Boys 7 1943-49
Galesburg Girls 6 1995-2000 (Current)
E.St.Louis Lincoln Girls 6 1979-84
Manual Boys 6 1994-99 (Current)


Consecutive Supersectional Wins

E.St.Louis Lincoln Girls 6 1979-84
Galesburg Girls 5 1996-2000 (Current)
Champaign Central Boys 4 1944-47
Teutopolis Girls 4 1983-66
E.St.Louis Lincoln Boys 4 1987-90
Manual Boys 4 1994-97

Tickets for the state tournament will be available on Wednesday, March 1 at GHS to season ticket holders first (5-7pm) and then to the the general public (7-8:30 pm). Plenty of tickets are available for the state tournament. Lower bowl tickets are $9.00. For more information contact the GHS athletic office at 343-9830.

February 28, 2000

In last years matchup vs. Harlem, Galesburg won in overtime on a last second shot 65-64. It began a series of thrilling last second wins that got Galesburg to the state championship game. Galesburg (32-2) is ranked No. 2 in the state and has a 7-2 record against state-ranked teams this year. The winner of tonights game vs. Harlem, (24-6) and ranked #16 in the state, advances to the Class AA state tournament Friday in Normal vs. the winner of West Aurora and Joliet.

February 27, 2000

Tickets will be avaliable until 1:00 pm at the GHS athletic office for Mondays supersectional game vs. Harlem. All tickets are $6.00 and seating is general admission. "The Chick" (unofficially nicknamed this year), or Chick Evans Feildhouse holds 6,076. Doors open at 6:15 while tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.

Coach Rux is a 1989 graduate of Northern Illinois University and was an aide to the mens basketball team under the direction of Jim Rosborough, now the top assistant for the University of Arizona.

Three of Galesburgs regular season opponents are still alive and well in the the Class AA tournament. Barrington, Washington, and Peoria HS, all Sweet 16 qualifiers, are teams on the Streaks regular season schedule.

February 25, 2000

Galesburg advanced past Moline by posting a ten point overtime win over Moline last night. Megan Pacheco sent the game into overtime by draining a game tying three pointer as time expired in regulation to send the game into overtime and sent the Galesburg crowd into a frenzy. Galesburg's defense allowed just five points in the extra four minutes as the Silver Streaks won their fifth straight sectional title, 69-59.

Senior Stacy Boettcher advanced to the state finals in the three point shootout. Boettcher made 8 of 15 three point attempts to claim the fourth spot and final spot. Congratulations Stacy!

Galesburg will play Machesney Park Harlem, a 70-58 winner over Honeonegah in the DeKalb supersectional at Northern Illinois Universitys Chick Evans Feild House. The DeKalb supersectional and the Chicago Public League championship, are the only two in the state this year being played on a college floor.

February 23, 2000

Point guard Jaque Howard became the all-time leader in assists at GHS with the four she dished out in the win over Rock Island. Jaque passed her friend and mentor Molly Watson with a pass to Megan Pacheco with 5:57 remaining in the second quarter and leaves her at 574 assists. Congratulations Jaque!

Tickets for Thursdays game with Moline at the Streator Sectional are available at the GHS athletic office. All tickets are $5.00 and doors open at 6:30 pm with the three point shootout beginning at approximately 6:45 pm.

February 22, 2000

The hard fought 15 point win over Rock Island last night made a clean sweep over the Rocks this year and making it the fourth consecutive year that Galesburg has eliminated the Rocks. After missing their first eight shots, Galesburg slowly crept back into the game and took a four point halftime lead only to let Rock Island take a four point lead midway through the third period before going on a 12-0 run late in the third quarter to take an eight point lead.

Stacy Boettcher advanced to the sectional final in the three point shootout and will shoot before Thursdays game to try to advance to the state finals.

Thursdays game vs. Moline will also be the third meeting between the two teams. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 pm.

February 20, 2000

Tickets are avaliable for Mondays sectional game with Rock Island by stopping by the GHS athletic office on Monday. All tickets are $5.00 and seating is genral admission. Doors open at 5:00 pm.

Jaque Howard is now within on assit of former Streak Molly Watson of becoming the all time assist leader at Galesburg High School.

Happy Birthday to Mr. Allen Massey who turns three years old today. Happy Birthday, Allen!

February 18, 2000

Galesburg claimed its 13th straight regional championship last night moving them up to a tie for 7th in consecutive regional titles for both boys and girls teams in the state.

Galesburg will now play Rock Island who was a 70-61 winner over Geneseo last night. Rocky III will be played Monday night in Streator. Game time is 6:00 pm.

Congratulations to Mary Lindstrom and Stacy Boettcher of Galesburg, and Wendi Grabowski and Liz Mueller of LaSalle-Peru as they advanced to Mondays sectional semifinal in the three point shootout held prior to last nights game.

February 16, 2000

If you haven't heard by now, Galesburg will play LaSalle-Peru in Thursdays regional championship. Game time is 7:30 at Galesburgs John Thiel Gym. Release the hounds and let's start the insanity. The Three Point Shootout will begin approximately 6:40 pm. The eight shooters in Thursdays competition are:

Kimi Peck--Galesburg
Michelle Mundy--Galesburg
Mary Lindstrom--Galesburg
Stacy Boettcher--Galesburg
Angie Brown--Sycamore
Liz Mueller--LaSalle-Peru
Katie Kohr--LaSalle-Peru
Wendi Grabowski--LaSalle-Peru


Good luck!

In looking at the state records, it appears that Galesburg is currently tied for 8th when it comes to consecutive regional titles for all classes and both boys and girls, tied for 4th in consecutive sectional titles, and tied for second in number of consectitve supersectional wins.

Consecutive Regional Titles (All Classes)

Centralia Boys 25 1945-69
Paris Boys 18 1938-55
E.St.Louis Lincoln Girls 18 1978-95
Stephan Decatur Boys 17 1936-52
Mt.Vernon Boys 16 1940-55
Galesburg Boys 16 1955-70
Quincy Boys 15 1942-56
Maine West Girls 15 1985-99 (Current)
Manual Boys 14 1986-99 (Current)
Peoria Central Boys 13 1987-99 (Current)
Galesburg Girls 12 1988-99 (Current)
MacAuley Girls 12 1987-98
Carthage Girls 11 1977-87


Consecutive Sectional Titles (All Classes)

Teutopolis Girls 8 1983-90
Paris Boys 7 1938-44
Champaign Central Boys 7 1943-49
E.St.Louis Lincoln Girls 6 1979-84
Manual Boys 6 1994-99 (Current)
E.St.Louis Lincoln Boys 5 1986-90
Carthage Girls 5 1989-93
Quincy Boys 5 1942-46
Galesburg Girls 5 1995-99 (Current)


Consecutive Supersectional Wins

E.St.Louis Lincoln Girls 6 1979-84
Champaign Central Boys 4 1944-47
Teutopolis Girls 4 1983-66
E.St.Louis Lincoln Boys 4 1987-90
Manual Boys 4 1994-97
Galesburg Girls 4 1996-99 (Current)

February 14, 2000

So just how good is the Western Big 6 Conference? A look at the overall records of the confernce schools shows that every team finished with a winning overall record. The four Western Big 6 teams (East Moline, Moline, Galesburg, and Rock Island) in the Streator sectional complex have a combined record of 79-27.

Galesburg has played 8 teams that are currently ranked or have recieved votes in the AP poll and have an 11-1 record vs. those teams.