Monmouth Review-Atlas Senior Shootout

Review-Atlas Senior Shootout
United High School
7/10/10

A busy Saturday at the office. It was a 4:30 a.m. wakeup call, followed by morning news at the radio station, a remote broadcast at Rheinschmidt's in Galesburg, and then broadcasting a doubleheader basketball game at the Monmouth Review-Atlas Senior Shootout.

My co-worker, Greg Ford, saved me some time by coming to Rheinschmidt's at noon to pick up the radio equipment for another remote broadcast, at Lake Storey. With the extra time, I bee-lined to Wendy's for some lunch. It was a solid week without any junk food, sticking to my healthy summer diet...and the weekly visit to Buffalo Wild Wings!

I don't visit Wendy's...ever, so I was unsure of their menu. I couldn't tell you what I had, but it was a chicken sandwich. The fries were really salty. I hate salt, and don't even own a salt shaker. You will find not one grain of salt in my kitchen. There is enough salt in products, it shouldn't even be sold. Check out the label of anything in a grocery store, and remember that we should consume, on average, 1500 mg a day. When my blood pressure soared to 158/116, and consistently stayed that high, I had to eradicate many things from my diet (and at the time, I wasn't eating that bad, and not much fast food). Honestly, I should completely cut fast food entirely out of my eating habits, but it's very tough sometimes.

United High School was the host of the Monmouth Review-Atlas Senior Shootout. Normally, it is held at Monmouth College, but they are doing some renovations to that gym, as well as the gym at Monmouth-Roseville High School.

Tony Z, from our sister station in Canton, came up to do color commentary for me. He had text messaged me at 11:40, saying he was on his way. Plenty of time. As I neared the pregame show, no Tony. I shot him a text, and he called me right back. He said, "Am I at the wrong high school?" I replied, "Apparently, you're not here," with a laugh. He said his GPS took him to Alexis. That hasn't been a high school for about five years. He made it halfway through the first half of the girl's game.

I like the setup at United, as the scoreboard operator, P.A., etc. are up in the balcony, which is the weight room, that runs long ways down the gym (along the sideline). It is tough, though, at times to see the nearest sideline.

Before each game, there was a three-point shootout. Representing the North girl's was Monmouth-Roseville's Beth Dingman, going head-to-head against Orion's Kelly Hutton. Hutton won the event, earning a plaque.

There were limited participants, as a few dropped out, a couple didn't show up, and many recent seniors opted not to play. There were 15 girls and 12 boys in the event. Head coaches on the girl's side were Mike Kelley, who is a junior high basketball coach at Immaculate Conception in Monmouth. He led the north team, that consisted mainly of former Monmouth-Roseville Titans. I dubbed the North team, Kelsey Kovacik and the Titans. That would be a cool band name. Kovacik was the only girl on the team not from Monmouth-Roseville. They faced the South squad, coached by former West Central Heat coach Kelly Hinkle. His team consisted of many West Central graduates, a pair of Orion players, and a United Red Storm alum.

The North jumped out to a 25-18 lead at halftime. Organizers passed out the MVP ballots at the break, and there were a few names that really impressed me in the first half. Of course, MVP's are usually won in the second half, but some names were brewing. My first half MVP nominees were Kovacik and Rebecca Gillen from the North, and Megan Blumenshein and Ashli Burg from the South. Kovacik really impressed me. I don't think I saw ROWVA this past season (pretty surprising, I thought I saw every team within 100 miles, LOL), and she handled the ball really well. The thing is, the North team was so fluid, the chemistry was top-notch. Of course, the girls were extremely familiar with each other. In all honesty, there was no single MVP candidate, as each girl did something really nice in that first half.

For the South in the first half, Ashli Burg impressed. I counted 5 rebounds in the first 10 minutes of the game (20-minute halves), and she probably finished with around 12 on the game. Megan Blumenshein stood out, as expected, with her ball handling and ability to slice through the defense. She will be playing three sports next year at Carl Sandburg College (Volleyball, Basketball, Softball).

Gillen stood out, and took things over in the second half, as the North cruised to a 20-point win (54-34). She finished with 14 points, and Kovacik added 11 points. Emma McGuire did a real nice job, scoring 8 points in the second half and finished with 10 points. Claire McGuire also scored 10 points. It was a tough decision between Gillen and Kovacik for the MVP, but the second half play of Gillen swayed my vote.

The South were led by Blumenshein and Murdock's 10 points. Gillen won the MVP, and it was a unanimous decision. Faces in the crowd during the girl's game: Brent Hutton (Orion boy's basketball coach), watching his daughter Kelly, John McBride (Orion girl's basketball coach), former West Central football coach Steve Arnold, and a player from the shootout a year ago, and baseball player at Eureka, Tanner Schreck (watching his sister Amanda Schreck).

In between games, there was plenty of time. Along with Schreck, who was still in his American Legion baseball uniform with his teammates Alex Temple and Drew Cole, I took a break to head down and get their final score from their game today. They fell to Rock Island, 26-5. I invited the remaining girls from the victorious North squad to come up and talk until the boy's game was to begin. Joining me for the interview were; Lynsey Weber, Amanda Schreck, Emma McGuire, Claire McGuire, and Kelsey Kovacik.

Our topics were just the feelings of this being their last high school competition, and their future plans for the fall. I asked Kovacik about playing with a team of Titans, and she got a little microphone shy and got the giggles, so she waved off the rest of the interview. She will be heading to the far south this fall, enrolling at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

After the interviews, I talked with the girls shortly during a break, as the referees were putting new net into one of the baskets. I said I had noticed a hole in the net, and Weber commented that the ball came out funny after a Samantha Arnold three-pointer. All three referees took turns trying to get the net installed, which delayed the boy's tip a little bit. After the game, I talked with Tom Glenn, one of the refs, and he said that it was really tight, and he had to use some foreign objects (I wanted to slip in an old pro wrestling term), to put it in.

During our, "rain delay" broadcast, Tony Z and I read through the Review-Atlas Shootout tab, commenting on some of the answers to the questionaires that the players filled out. Here are my top five favorites.

1) Rebecca Gillen : No one knows -- "I can't wink"
2) Samantha Arnold: Best (and Worst) High School Memory -- "One time when we played United and I fell on my bladder."
3) Kelly Hutton: "I have a third ankle. I am extremely unorganized. I rarely tan, but always burn," in her about me paragraph.
4) Zach Steele: Worst High School Moment: "Losing, I'm the biggest sore loser, I know."
5) Caleb Lepisto: Favorite Teacher and Subject: "Lunch, ladies, lunch."

The game was underway, and despite a delay, still earlier than the scheduled 4:00 tipoff. With the Victor Davis-factor, I really thought the North team had the advantage. The 6'5" big man from Galesburg could dominate games, and the South squad didn't have a post to combat his size and strength....but in the end, the South proved me wrong in a 13-point win, holding Davis to 8 points and 5 rebounds (by my calculations).

It was a slow starting game, and was a low scoring affair with a lot of turnovers. It was just, 19-12, at halftime. The South held the advantage, behind Caleb Lepisto's 7 points and Mitch Heiar's 5 points. Davis, for the North, was held to just 2 points in the first 20 minutes. There was only one substitute on each team, as only 12 players suited up.

In the end, Andrew Kovacik finished with a game-high 15 points and won the game's MVP. After an electric second half (12 of his 15), it was a pretty easy decision. Mitch Heiar also had my consideration, as he finished with 11 points and had a nice game. As my third choice, I put a member on the North squad, and that was Markus Hunter, he played pretty well, and finished with a team-high 9 points.

Faces in the crowd for the boy's game: Chuck Grant (Monmouth-Roseville boy's basketball coach), Jeremy Anderson (Abingdon boy's basketball coach), Jason Lydic (ROWVA boy's basketball coach), and United Red Storm senior-to-be standout Gina Long.