Lexi Daniels- Q&A

Lexi is a freshmen on the varsity. She has made a nice transition from junior to the varsity level because of her unselfishness- low ego combined with a good work ethic. She quickly earned the respect of the older players with her approach, and her ability to play. She is off to a great year, and I anticipate she will just keep getting better and better!

 

When did you first start playing basketball?

When I was in 2nd grade at the YMCA.

 

Is there someone or some event that got you fired up about playing basketball?

When I got to jr.streaks and I met Sami,Kailyn,Marissa, Shayli etc. and we worked really well together!

 

What is your favorite basketball memory from grade school travel bb or from jh basketball?

My favorite memory would be 8th grade when we only lost to churchill by 4 points because our 7th grade year we got demolished.

Sabrina Clay-Q&A

Sabrina Clay is a sophomore on the varsity. She was on the freshmen team last year and jumped clear to the varsity. She made an impression on the coaches this spring because she never missed anything, she worked hard, and she was pretty good!!

In preseason one day at practice we were doing alot of conditioning at the end of practice. Sabrina came to us and said she felt light headed like she was going to faint. We told her to step out. At that point we were almost done with the workout. I told her to stand with Coach Allison. Later Coach Allison said Sabrina was upset about not running, she didn't want to let her teammates down. Guess that is one of the reasons Sabrina is on the varsity- she gets it- she is committed to her teammates!!

Allison Mangieri- Q&A

Allison is a senior, captain for the Streaks. Allison has the ability to play multiple positions for us because of her athleticism, intelligence, and attitude. She is a GREAT team player!!

When did you first start playing basketball?
3rd grade

Is there someone or some event that got you fired up about playing basketball?
My older sister Dorothy got me fired up about playing basketball.

Streaks Ranked #5 in Illinois

The Streaks are ranked #5 in the first Illinois basketball poll. We all know polls are more meaningful at the end of the season than at the beginning of the year. We all know that polls are not always accurate.

Despite all of that- our girls should be proud to be rated in the first poll. It is a reflection on several things. It is first a reflection that our present group has worked hard and are seen to have great potential.  And it is also a reflection that our program has a nice tradition.

Jessica Lieber- 1000 Points

Jessica Lieber went over 1000 points for her career in last Saturday's game vs. Freeport. While Jess played a little as a freshmen with the varsity, she has reached 1000 in two seasons and 6 games.  Jess becomes the 14th Streaks girls basketball player to reach 1000 points.

Alumni NIght

Wow- what a fun night. Lots and lots of good stories to share.

I was especially impressed with '97 team's memories. First thing Sarah Larson said to me,"Remember Freeport game when you pulled us all out and yelled at us." Sadly I do remember that.

Then when I went to take a picture they laughed at me for having an iPhone. Some things don't change- that is what the present players do!!

1997 Undefeated Streaks- Part III

So what did the 1997 team do to stand out?

Won first 33 games before losing to Taylorville in the Semi-Finals.

Completed the regular season a perfect 27-0.

15 of 35 games were won by 30+ points.

23 of 35 games were won by 20+ points.

28 of 35 games were won by 10+ points.

1997 Undefeated Streaks- Part II

After winning the Sectional championship over Rocky at Wharton Fieldhouse, we were headed to DeKalb to play Belvidere in the Supersectional. The game was to be played at DeKalb High School.

Belvidere was the team we had beaten in the Super the year before. They were led by Amanda Leavens who was headed to Old Dominion. She had been very good the year before, and she was only better. I think the atmosphere at the Supersectionals when we went to DeKalb and later to NIU were the most exciting atmospheres in high school basketball. The gym was not huge but it was absolutely packed. I don't remember all the details but I remember...

Keeping Ego in Check

My son looked thru the season previews in different newspapers. His only comment,"Man, you have lost 272 games a coach. Not many coaches keep their jobs with that many losses."

Meet the Streaks History

Some of my most memorable Meet the Streaks experiences (in no particular order).....

1- My first experience was as a boys assistant basketball coach. I am not sure we even had an intrasquad scrimmage at my high school. At GHS, both balconies were open- the main floor seating was nearly filled, and people were spilled into the balcony. There were probably 2000 people at the intrasquad scrimmage- pretty impressive.

1997 Undefeated Streaks- Part I

With the 1997 Streaks going into the GHS Hall of Fame, it has caused me to want to go thru some memories.

In 1996 we had the greatest year in the history of Streaks girls basketball, and maybe to that point, the history of girls sports at GHS. The Streaks led by seniors Sara Wood, Jen Bulkeley, Ami Pendry, and  Jen Wright (hope not missing someone), went on a terror at the end of the year. They made it to State, and captured third place. It was a special year. As we left the floor after getting our third place medals, our two freshmen on the '96 squad were walking in front of me. Jenny Zolper and Sarah Larson were walking arm in arm as they left the floor. Zolp turned to Stork and said,"We're going to do this three more times." I thought, "Oh no, that is unrealistic." I shared with Coach Peachey what I had heard and expressed how unlikely that would be.

1997 Streaks

This is a picture of the 1997 Streaks. They were undefeated during the regular season,
took 4th in State, finishing with 33-2 record.

Register-Mail First Practice

The following is the RM article on our first practice.....

GALESBURG —

The Galesburg High School girls basketball team began their season on Monday with an early morning and an evening practice.

Galesburg coach Evan Massey, who is entering his 35th season at the helm of the Silver Streaks, said this year’s team should have more offense than last year’s team, which finished with an overall mark of 27-6 and advanced to the sectional semifinals.

“We return a pretty athletic group,” he said. “Last year, our greatest strength was we were a better defensive team than offensive team and this year we’ve improved offensively.

“Hopefully, we are a deeper group this year,” Massey added. “This fall, we happened to have a lot of girls not involved in fall sports and there was enough of them that they got to play.”

Fall Was Insane

We have always felt it has been important to our team to be very involved in the weight room. We started a strong commitment to the weight room in the mid-1990's when Coach Peachey came on as an assistant coach. He developed a strong lifting program for us, and it was incredible the difference it made for us.

The best example of the importance of strength training for us was our 1999 team, which took 2nd in State. (It should be noted that was back in the days before 4-classes where we had to go thru all the big schools in Illinois). In 1998, we made it to the Elite 8 but were crushed by Loyola. Loyola had several DI players, and was rated nationally. We returned everyone from the '98 team. So while we were excited about the prospects of having everyone back, we realized the team who had crushed us, Loyola, also had everyone back.

Jeff Janssen- Team Culture

As coaches we talk about creating a "culture". This is sports psychologist Jeff Janssen spin on team cultures.

1. Corrosive Culture

A Corrosive Culture is highly toxic and is characterized by a lot of conflict, negativity, frustration, cliques, gossiping, distrust, and selfishness. It is obviously not one that is fun to be around and the turmoil and tension off the field/court almost surely affects the team on it. From a relationship standpoint, cliques will often develop that divide, distract, and destroy the team. Rather than battling your opponents, your athletes spend more time battling each other and the coaching staff because no one is on the same page working toward the same goal.
From a results standpoint, people become apathetic or even resistant toward team goals because they lose respect for their coaches and/or teammates. In Corrosive Cultures there is a lot of selfishness because in such a negative and dysfunctional environment, members basically must look out for themselves because they don’t trust their teammates and coaches. As the name suggests, Corrosive Cultures eat away at people’s attitudes, commitment, and chemistry much like a caustic acid. Ultimately, people just seek to endure in this kind of culture or escape it whenever possible.