Register-Mail’s Prophecy- In 1998, the Streaks had no seniors. They had everyone coming back from a team that made it to the Elite 8. At the end of the 1998 season, the Register-Mail ran this story predicting the Streaks could be going back to State again soon. They were right.
Chicago, Chicago, Chicago- Once when we asked the Booster Club for money for a charter bus to play a Chicagoland school, a member said, “There are plenty of teams in the area like Knoxville and Monmouth, why don’t they play them.” This article in the Chicago Tribune describes our upcoming game with Barrington and explains the value of our history of playing at Maine West in the summer as well as the regular season games vs. Maria, Barrington, then later Maine South, Buffalo Grove, Waubonsie Valley, and New Trier. In the late ‘80’s, Mike Hellenthal (AD) had said, “If you are ever going to be good enough to go to State, you don’t want your first games vs. Chicago teams to be at the State Tourney.
Jas and the Posties- This is a blurry picture of Sarah Larson, Whitney Snyder, Coach Mike Jaskoski, and Jenny Zolper. Coach Jas formed a strong bound with the post players- they even had their own secret handshake. But Jas was not all fun and games. Our normal half-time routine was for us to talk as coaches and then for me to talk to the players. At the Super-Sectional when we were down at half, Jas bypassed the discussions and just went in and lit a fire- it worked.
Forest in the Lane- This picture captures the size of Loyola. Jenny Zolper was surrounded in the lane and certainly could not have seen over anyone.
State’s Most Famous Shot- Twenty five years after Sarah Larson (Stork) made the buzzer beater (pictured here), I still run into coaches who want to tell me where they were sitting and how much everyone not from Loyola exploded. One coach said,”It’s still the most talked about shot in IHSA history.”
Two Time, Defending State Champs- How big was the Loyola win? They were the two-time defending State Champs. They had beaten us badly the year before.
Absolute Joy- No team in any sport has ever had a more joyous reaction to a win than Galesburg did after beating Loyola. This picture is wonderful, but the best picture would have been if I could have found Shanell Jackson hugging the IHSA Attitude.
The Stork- Sarah Larson was so hard for other teams to guard. If they put a smaller, quicker player on her, at 5’11” she took them apart inside and on the boards. If they put a post on her, she stepped out and either shot or made a shot fake and drove right around them. She had the best shot fake of any player I ever coached. Because of her unique abilities, she got to the foul line over and over. Sarah was 244-313=78% (11th most made in IHSA history). Galesburg was 600-842=71% (2nd most made in IHSA history). To put in perspective, GHS made 600 ft’s, while our opponents attempted only 388.
Treated Like Royalty- The girls road a fire truck starting on East Main St thru downtown, to Henderson St, and to GHS. At GHS there were over 1000 fans to welcome the girls back.
Hurts to Lose- Whether lose first game of the tourney or the last game of the tourney, it hurts.
Pride of Galesburg- The Galesburg fans gave us a home court advantage for every game during the season and the tourney.
No comments:
Post a Comment