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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Moline Ready for "Sigh of Relief"

Moline defeated Washington 41-30 to advance to the consolation championship game at the Manual Tourney. This raised Moline to 10-9 on the year. They play a tourney before and after Christmas. The Sterling tourney before Christmas was loaded with Montini and Richwoods.

In the article about their win over Washington, the following comment was made by the Moline coach, ""I'm sure the girls are going to want to take a sigh of relief after this" five-week start to the season. 

It should be noted that Moline plays Galesburg on Thursday, January 6. Read the article, not sure if the implication is that after the Manual Tourney that Moline will be through with the tough part of their schedule?


By Marc Nesseler of the Moline Dispatch

PEORIA — A grueling five-week stretch is just about over for the Moline girls' basketball team. Now the Maroons just want to cap it on a winning note.

Moline will be playing for a consolation-bracket championship today in the 32nd annual Peoria Manual Tournament after pulling away to a 41-30 victory over Washington on Tuesday afternoon.

"With the number of tough opponents we've had, it's been a real challenging stretch for the kids," Moline coach Steve Ford said of the 10-9 Maroons. "We want to make sure we end all of this on a positive stretch as we head into conference play when the new year starts.

"I'm sure the girls are going to want to take a sigh of relief after this" five-week start to the season.
Moline will face the winner of Pekin vs. Bartonville Limestone at 2:45 p.m. today at Manual High School.

Record-wise, Washington wasn't one of those tough opponents, with the Panthers taking a 4-10 record into the consolation bracket third-place game. But it was an opponent that provided a test for Moline as it continues to tweak its rotations.

The Maroons jumped out to a 17-4 lead, only to have the Panthers claw back to within one at 24-23 with three minutes left in the first half. Washington had one shot to take the lead, however that missed field-goal try led to a seven-point Moline run to close the half.

"We were trying to go with some different combinations of players, and when you do that, the flow kind of gets interrupted," Ford said of how the early big lead got wiped out. "Those girls in there gave it their all, but Washington found a way of catching us in transition."

Playing a big role in Moline getting back on track was reserve Sanela Causevic (four points). First she had a feed to Becky Langford to close out the half, then she was on the receiving ends of assists from Marquisha Harris and Langford to built the lead back to 37-25.

Along with the Causevic helper, Moline silenced Washington's first-half surge with a three-point play from Harris and a basket by Jordan de los Reyes.

"That was a nice stretch where we got some good looks," said Ford. "The girls didn't let the pressure get to them, and they were able to finish it off."

Harris led the Maroons with 14 points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks; de los Reyes chipped in with eight points.

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