Girl's Basketball Shootout (@ Galesburg)

Galesburg Girl's Basketball Shootout
Wednesday 7/7/10

Today was an extremely undecided, unplanned day of coverage. My covering the girl's basketball shootout at Galesburg High School depended on the workload at the office. I have a full day (plus) on Saturday, so Thursday is an off day, which was planned around the final day of this shootout (all day games). One of my plans was to leave work for a couple hours in the early afternoon to take in a few games, and return to work for an event we had from 5:00 to 7:00.

I had a meeting with a client in Galesburg in the morning, and a little more time than expected was spent there, so I was a bit behind when I headed back to the office, so it looked like no coverage would be given tonight.

Once I returned, I was told I didn't have to work the late afternoon event, so I was headed over to the shootout after all.

Galesburg coach Evan Massey had emailed me earlier in the day, wanting to talk about some ways he could reach out to Silver Streaks fans and his players, using modern technology. We had a long discussion at the gym between games, and I really couldn't offer any solid advice. Truth be told, I am not much of a web guy, I am almost completely self-taught. If I had to start over, I'm not even sure how I would, LOL. Any new additions, or features I add to the website, or ideas gained, I just do a Google search, and learn by doing.

I told coach Massey that registering a domain name could be the easiest way, even by directing that doman to go to a blog, which would be the easiest for someone without much (or any) website knowledge. I also directed him to check out some free web-based hosts. The only one I could think of was Geocities (not sure if they are even around anymore).

Speaking of websites, during one of the shootout games, one of the referees came over during a timeout, asking what I was doing. I told him about my website, and that it's just a hobby. I don't do it for money (in fact I lose A LOT of money in covering the events I do on a regular basis). He directed me toward a web designer friend, since I announce my website as "amateurish", which it is. The important thing to me for my website, is to bring the most content and keep people coming back, and remembering the website and what all it entails. Unfortunately, there is not the financial means to upgrade, as I would rather spend it on gas to cover games to keep the content coming.

Before I made it to the shootout, I printed off some information on the teams that were participating. With some suburban schools playing that I didn't know much about, I wanted to do a little homework, to maybe see any players I had known about, just forgot over the last several months since basketball season.

Hoffman Estates was playing Knoxville, the first game I covered intently. The more I have seen Knoxville play this summer (quite a bit), I really like them in Class 1A. I have already put together notes on my preseason rankings, and they have possibly moved into top 10 territory. Haley Jones (6'0" Jr.) is one of those tweeners, because she can bang down low, but she is also good out on the perimeter. She is very lean and athletic, and an excellent defender. I couldn't count how many steals or tipped passes she had. Very long wingspan. She is complimented nicely by a couple returning starting guards in Abby Ball (terrific 3-point shooter and also great defensively) and Katie Houston. I was impressed with a freshman, Haylie Kelso, and Tessa Jones will be in their starting five. She comes from a very athletic family.

As for Hoffman Estates, they had a familiar name for NFL fans, Ogunleye. Precious Ogunleye, that is. She is a low-post player, and her future belongs in track and field. She took 2nd place in the Class 3A state finals in the shot put. As soon as I saw her name, I recognized reading something about her last season. For some reason, I am thinking she is a niece or some kind of relative to the Bears defensive standout, Adewale Ogunleye. I searched every corner of the Internet for that article, but couldn't find it. Hoffman Estates had another really lanky athletic guard/forward, and not sure who it was. It may have been sophomore-to-be Destinee Young.

Streamwood played pretty well. They didn't impress me too much in warmups, quite honestly, but played a good game against Knoxville later in the night. As soon as they took the floor, a younger girl really caught my attention. She was quick, and just had that "eye of the tiger" look, unlike anyone else on the floor. She looked like a freshman, sophomore at the oldest. After the game, I talked with head coach George Rosner. Her name is DeJa Moore, and will be a sophomore. She didn't play varsity last year, but when asked if she will see significant time this coming season, he exclaimed, "OH YEAH." Rosner also told me that three of his starters were not in town with the team. As I looked at last year's roster, I did see one girl missing that I would have noticed, (6'3") post Michelle Tomczak.

The final game of the night featured Galesburg against Peru St. Bede. I stayed for the first half, and caught some good video as the Streaks took a 22-12 halftime lead. Galesburg will be running the same system as last year, where there is a lot of running....and just as much shooting. Over the summer, a couple girls have stood out to me on the Streaks. Jamie Johnson, I think, has really improved, and played some of the better basketball, all around, by the Streaks. Jessica Howard, is still the go-to player on the team, and will standout once again. She is an extremely hard worker. Emma Junk, a sophomore, has impressed me with her play. She didn't dress varsity until the second half of the season, and then played sparingly down the stretch, but saw quite a bit of floor time this summer. Myra Diggins has also been really impressive. Rainee Sibley, who didn't dress at all last year as a freshman, has played up with the varsity. Jessica Lieber, another sophomore, could light it up this year at the varsity level. She averaged about 25 ppg at the sophomore level last year. She made some freshman mistakes, with passing last year, and that portion of her game has improved in the summer games I watched.