"They Are So Naive"

Last week I wrote about the finish of the 1998 season. We had lost to Loyola by 15 in the Elite 8. Loyola went on to win their second straight state title. Although we had everyone- not almost everyone- we had everyone coming back from the 1998 team. Unfortunately, Loyola had their key players coming back too. The question was whether our young players might be a little satisfied with their great success, and not get into working to improve.

The in the summer before the 1999 season, we started Streaks Camp by watching a video. The video was clips from our game vs. Loyola. It was labelled, "Streaks vs Loyola Low Light." It was not a long production, it was about 5-6 minutes long. The message was that Loyola was not going anywhere. If our goal is just to be good and go to State, we can do what we have always done. If we want to beat Loyola, then we have to get better.





Coach Peachey then talked to them about how big Loyola was. Sadly, we were not going to get any taller and Loyola was not going to shrink. So his message was that to handle their height, we needed to get stronger.



So in the summer and fall going into our 1999 season, the players were extremely committed- on the court getting better and working in the weight room. In July, we had a big set back when Jenny Zolper tore her ACL in a game at Maine West. She would not return to playing until December. In the Fall, we had 11 of our 15 roster players playing in open gyms- it was the most competitive Fall ever.

In December, the IHSA drew the pairings for the State Tourney. What are the odds that two years in a row our Supersectional winner would be paired vs Loyola in the Elite 8. Whatever the odds, that was the pairing.

The Streaks won 27 in a row to start the season. Only in 4 games did opponents come within 10 points. In the last regular season game of the year, we traveled to Quincy. We lost to them by 8 to finish the regular season 27-1.

Sarah Pacheco (photo by Rudy Aten)

Rachel Bicego (photo by Rudy Aten)

In the tourney, we flew through the Regional and Sectional. Our trip included a 35 point win over Freeport to open the Sectional. In the Super, we needed overtime heroics to beat Harlem 65-64. Sarah Larson hit a three in regulation. And the big play of the game was when sophomore Rachel Bicego hit sophomore Sarah Pacheco under the basket for 2.

The win sealed our rematch with Loyola. This was before Hudl, where tapes are exchanged electronically. So we had made arrangements with 5-6 schools if we won, we would come and get tapes. So Steve Bryant took off early in the morning for the suburbs to get the tapes. When you are playing the two time defending State Champs, it is not hard to find people who will give you tapes or who will talk to you on the phone about Loyola.

The IHSA hosted a banquet for the teams the night before play. The IHSA assigned players seats and intermixed the teams. Our players by this time of the week knew the Loyola players from watching film and from game prep. Some of our players were surprised to realize when they sat down at a table, they didn't feel some of the Loyola players had any idea who they were. Maybe we were just looking for motivation, but it provided some more.

The program that was handed to the players had Loyola's point guard on the cover. Maybe a little more motivation.

Our triangle & 2. Snyder/Flaar mm. (Aten photo)

Whitney Snyder hitting big shot (Aten photo)

Michelle Flaar matched up (Aten photo)

Loyola's big three were Olga Gvozdenovic 6'2", Elizabeth Fletcher 6'2", and guard Laura Sobieszczyk 5'8". While we listed Sarah Larson 5'11", Whitney Snyder 5'10", Megan Pacheco 5'9", and Jenny Zolper 5'9"-- probably Loyola's guard was actually taller than all but Larson. We came out playing a triangle and two- guarding only Gvozdenovic and Sobieszczyk. The other 3 were in a triangle. Sarah Larson and Megan Pacheco played the bottom of the triangle and Jaque Howard played the point. Those three never came out of the game. They challenged players to make shots from the perimeter.

Jenny Zolper next to Olga (photo by Aten)

Jenny Zolper (probably 7 inches shorter) and Whitney Snyder (probably 5 inches shorter) were assigned to guard Gvozdenovic. Their job was not let her get offensive rebounds. Pacheco and Larson would double team her if she got the ball. Meanwhile, Michelle Flaar and Rachel Bicego traded off on Sovieszezyk.

Despite all of our efforts we got down early and were down close to double digits early in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Howard, Flaar, Snyder, and Sarah Pacheco hit some big shots. But we mainly scored by Sarah Larson driving and drawing fouls. We inched back into the game. And had the ball with the game tied with just under a minute to play.

The crowd kept getting louder and louder. And the good part was that it was a Galesburg crowd. Galesburg had the most fans at Redbird, and anyone who was not from Loyola was a Galesburg fan.

Jaque Howard (Aten Photo)

With game tied, we delayed for one shot. Our delay game was a triangle with Larson, Howard, and Megan Pacheco- screening and exchanging positions. It had been effective for us because now our lack of height became a weapon as the Loyola's bigger kids had to chase Pacheco and Larson out by half court. 

When they began to switch, we took a time out with under 30 seconds to play. We ran what we caled Fist to get the ball inbounds. They denied Jaque the ball so we threw to Michelle Flaar along the baseline. They did a nice job of trying to deny the pass out- but we got it.

Earlier in the game- Larson scoring on Help
(Aten photo)

Our best play was called Help. And in the time out, we decided that is what we would run with 10 seconds to go.

When Jaque had the ball and it hit 10 seconds, she raised her fist in the air which was the signal for Help. Zolper popped up the right elbow. When she got the ball, Sarah Larson on the left side stepped out to set a flex screen for Megan Pacheco to cut baseline. We seldom passed to Megan on this play because they would help off on Megan- leaving Sarah wide open at 15 feet. From there, the normal was for Sarah to shot fake and drive to the basket.

Megan Pacheco (Aten photo)

Jenny decided Megan was open and threw it to her cutting to the basket. At the time, I remember expressing disappointment on the bench. Megan took the ball up over a much bigger defender. She missed and the ball came off the board. Fletcher and Gvozdenovic were there to get the defensive board. But Zolper flew in and tipped the ball. Sarah Larson picked up the ball, shot it, and made it as the horn went off.

Galesburg Register-Mail photo by Kent Kriegshauser

On the floor, everything broke loose. Our bench stormed the floor. An opposing coach later told me that he was sitting in the balcony with other coaches and everyone was jumping up and giving each other high fives throughout the balcony.

After the game it was very exciting. When we went into the locker room, the celebration did not end. Someone yelled, "Were all those hours in the weight room worth it?" And it was followed by a roar.

In the press conference, a local reporter who the year before had written that Zolper was too short to play post position, was now asking her the keys to guarding Gvozdenovic.

Chicago Tribune story.

Was this the greatest game in the history of the State Tourney? Many say yes, it is certainly in the discussion.

Was this the greatest upset in the history of the State Tourney? Most would say yes. I would say yes. But the irony is that we entered the game ranked #2 in Illinois, and Loyola ranked #3.










In 1996 when we left the floor after getting our third place trophy at Redbird. Peachey and I were behind freshmen, Jenny Zolper and Sarah Larson. They were walking off with their arms around each other. Zolp turned to Sarah and said, "We're going to come back here the next three years." I thought it was neat but I said to Peachey, "They are so naive, they don't know how hard it is to get to State."

I guess looking back, I was the naive one.