Galesburg 68 Rock Island 61

We won in an unusual game. The first quarter we played as well as we have all year. We were effective creating turnovers with our press, and we moved the ball well versus their defense and made open shots. We jumped out to a 22-8 lead and looked in command. It seemed like we played with a lot more energy than Rock Island, we seemed to get all the 50/50 balls- on rebounds and loose balls. The second quarter was an absolute flip. Rocky totally dominated, outscoring us 22-9. They got all the 50/50 balls and played with much more energy that us. And on top of it, our defense was ineffective. We reached and fouled. Fortunately we took a 1 point lead into the half.

In the third quarter, we came out and slowly built up a lead. By the middle of the fourth quarter we had a solid 8 point lead most of the time. In the fourth quarter we opened things up with a combination of forced turnovers, drawing fouls, and hitting the boards. For about the last three minutes we reverted to "traditional" basketball with a delay game. We made our ft's to win the game.

System Goals

Field Goals Attempted   (Goal 72)    55  

Threes Attempted          (Goal 36)     45

O-Rebounds                  (Goal 40%)  55%

Forced Turnovers          (Goal 26)     31

Shot Differential            (Goal +20)   +5

Stats of Significance
Offensive Boards- Sadee Hamilton 6, Jamie Johnson 5
Steals- Jessica Howard 4
Assists- Paige Klinck 3
Number of Players Hitting Threes- 6
Free Throws- 24 for 36  (RI 6 for 12)

Some story lines from this game:

1- We have played very good defense this year. It was interesting this week looking back at tapes of our Rocky games last year. Looking at those tapes, I was disappointed how poor we looked on defense and how much harder Rocky had played than us. So although we had played very good defense this year, I was concerned going into this game if we would be able to do that against a quick RI team. It was very exciting to see how well we came out on defense in this game. In the first, third, and fourth quarter we really pressed and defended well.

2- We were dominated on the boards but in the fourth quarter we came alive and were great on the offensive boards.

3- We have individuals who are really "getting it" on our press. They are rotating up for steals. In this game I thought Sadee, Jamie, and Jessica H. really shot the gap for steals.

4- Depth, depth, depth. We had 8 players score 5 or more points. We really have more people contributing offensively. I hope I am right-- when you go in the lockeroom, it doesn't really seem like any of them care about who scores, they just want to get the job done as a team. Coach Allison called it on Megan Young, yesterday Coach Allison said, "Megan is going to hit some big shots, she is shooting too well in practice." Sure enough she really hit a huge three along with the foul to make a four point play. And both Jessica L and Mickey showed they are getting into rhythm of the game. It is good signs of good things to come.

5- Finally, it was great to see us be able to play "traditional" basketball the last 3-4 minutes to ice the game. A year ago we lost several games down the stretch because we could not delay and hold on. 

We have things to work on, but I am definitely proud of the effort we had tonight. Play of the game may have been when they had a 2 on 0 break but Myra Diggins came from nowhere to not only prevent a basket but took the ball from them. No game until next Thursday so we are taking Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. A long season, so a chance to physically and mentally refresh.