Alleman Over Streaks- RM

From the Register-Mail

The Galesburg High School girls basketball team opened the second half of their Western Big 6 Conference season Thursday night with a 62-56 loss to Alleman at Don Morris Gym.

The big story of the night was the Silver Streaks’ inability to hit 3-point attempts as coach Evan Massey saw his team go 3-for-30 from beyond the arc.

We just didn’t make enough 3s,” Massey said. “Of course, a lot of that was the defensive effort by Alleman.”

Early on the Streaks (13-3, 3-3) had other problems.

“They came out more aggressively and got most of the 50-50 balls,” Massey said. “It seemed like they got every long rebound and loose ball. Anytime that happens it’s a bad sign of things to come.”

The Pioneers (14-6, 4-2) held a 16-14 lead at the end of the first quarter before a big second period propelled them to a 41-29 at the half. After maintaining its 12-point advantage heading into the final period, Alleman still lead by 10 with just under four minutes to play.

“I thought as a whole we played very well,” Alleman coach Jay Hatch said. “I can’t say enough about our bench, especially in the first half. We had two players in foul trouble and the bench responded.”

The Streaks cut the lead to 61-55 with less than a minute to go on a layup by Jessica Lieber, who finished the night with 22 points. Alleman then missed the front end of a pair of one-and-bonus opportunities, but Galesburg couldn’t take advantage, garnering just one free throw the rest of the way.

Galesburg’s Sharron Diggins scored 13 points.

“I think our kids remembered the first game (a 75-56 Galesburg win at home) but forgot it was really close going into the fourth quarter,” Massey said. “That falls on me for not having them better prepared.”

The Pioneers also had two players in double figures. Sophomore Cierra Davis knocked down 19 while Zoe Kelso added 11.

“I think the difference in the game was our ability to really beat their pressure on numerous occasions,” Hatch said. “Going in you know you’re going to have a lot of turnovers, but I thought we handled it was well as we could.”