Massey Basketball: Streaks Scrapbook- Girls 1995 Sweet 16

Girls- 1995- Sweet 16 29-3 (State Rank #6)

The 1995 Streaks were the first girls basketball team to qualify for State, winning the Sectional and making it to the Sweet 16. To fully understand the 1995 Streaks and their season, you have to look back.

In 1993 the Streaks went 26-4, won the WB6 with a perfect 10-0 record, and were ranked #7 in the State. The 1993 Streaks won their Regional, and advanced to the Limestone, where they faced the host Limestone Rockets. Earlier in the year, the Streaks had beaten Limestone by 20 points at Galesburg, but lost the first game of the Sectional to Limestone by 10 points. Stef Mitchell as a sophomore was the second leading scorer on that team.

In 1994 the Streaks went 24-6, won the WB6, and were ranked 12th in the State. This time the Streaks hosted the Sectional but lost in the first game to IVC 52-50. 1994 marked the Streaks 7th straight Regional title, but during those 7 years Galesburg won only one Sectional game and no Sectional championships.

The 1994 Streaks started four underclassmen- Bonny Apsey (Jr., 6'1" Post- 12.8ppg), Stef Mitchell (Jr., 5'8" Guard- 13.7ppg), Sara Wood (So., 5'5" Guard, 3.6ppg), and Ami Pendry (So., 5'6"Guard, 6.7ppg). So the 1995 team returned four starters and most of their scoring.

In the summer before the 1994-5 season, it was established that our theme was going to be "Going Beyond Tradition." The message was that winning a Regional Championship and winning 20 games was not enough for us.

That summer it became obvious that the 1995 Streaks were going to be good. It was the only summer when a Streaks team went the entire summer without losing a single game. They played the best teams in the Chicago suburbs at Maine West and won them all. They went to University of Michigan Team Camp and beat great teams from Ohio and Michigan to win the Camp Championship.

It also became obvious in the summer that the Streaks were deep. Besides the returning starters, Gina Miller had been first post off the bench the year before. Molly Watson had been the leading scorer on the FS team as a freshman. And Mandy Rinker, Jenny Cirimotich, Jen Bulkeley, and Jen Wright all showed they could play varsity basketball. With the depth, the Streaks in 1995 often rotated 10 players as they ran and pressed all 32 minutes.

The starting lineup for the Streaks was Molly Watson (So., 5'4" Guard- 8.6ppg), Sara Wood (Jr., 5'5" Guard- 8.8ppg), Stef Mitchell (Sr., 5'8" Guard- 10.9ppg), Gina Miller (Sr., 5'8" Post- 5.5ppg), and Bonny Apsey (Sr., 6'1" Post- 13.6ppg). Coming off the bench were- Ami Pendry (Jr., 5'6" Guard- 4.7ppg), Jenny Cirimotich (Jr., 5'6" Guard- 3.1ppg), Jen Bulkeley (Jr., 5'9" Post- 8.4ppg), Mandy Rinker (Sr., 5'10" Post- 1.0ppg), and Jen Wright (Jr., 5'5" Guard- 1.8ppg).

The Streaks had a great regular season, going 25-2. Their only two losses were by 3 at Manual and by 5 at Geneseo. Whatever it is worth, the Manual game included a Manual player and the referee giving each other a high five after a call.

At this time, the IHSA had everyone in the Sectional complex seed all of the teams in the complex. For Regionals, the highest seed got to host the games. The Streaks hosted Pekin (57-39) and Morton (57-39) to win the Regional.

Galesburg was assigned as the host for the Sectional. In the first round, Galesburg was matched up vs Quincy. In December, Galesburg defeated Quincy at Quincy 65-54, but in January Galesburg managed only a 57-53 win at Galesburg. Quincy had a strong young lineup and were coached by Tom Berry, a former Jerry Leggett assistant. Quincy offensive ran the 100 sets that Leggett's teams ran, and then ran the 1-2-2 ball press while falling back into a 1-2-2 zone.

In the Sectional, a near capacity crowd greeted the Streaks. The Streaks struggled to score most of the night vs. the Quincy defense and trailed by 4 with under 90 seconds to go. Down the stretch it was the Stef Mitchell show- she hit a three with 1:22 to go to bring GHS to within one point, and then made two free throws with 30 seconds left to give Galesburg the lead. Molly Watson sealed the game with two ft's with one second to go.

The Streaks then faced Peoria ND for the championship. The crowd was bigger than the first Sectional game. People did not have assigned seats but it was standing room only. It is considered the largest crowd ever at Thiel Gym for girls basketball. GHS had beaten PND earlier in the February by 64-49 score. The championship game was not close as Galesburg ran away with a 69-51 win for the girls program's first Sectional title.

In the Super-Sectional, the Streaks matched up with Normal Community at Pekin. Galesburg ran into a buzz saw, as Normal had two D1 players. Jenny Schmidt (Sr., 5-9" Guard- 20.4ppg) headed to ISU and Jaime Gray (Sr., 6'0" Post- 18.4ppg) headed to Rhode Island. Galesburg struggled to score, which made it difficult to every get their pressure defense set up.

The 1995 Streaks definitely were able to "Go Beyond Tradition," by being the first Streaks Girls Team to win a Sectional and make the Sweet 16. They started two new traditions that would last for almost a decade. This Sectional championship was the first of nine straight, which is a State record.

Hosting the two Sectional games allowed many in Galesburg to see their first big-time high school girls basketball games. The crowds at those two games were the biggest crowds to ever see a girls basketball game, and still are the largest. The 1995 team rewarded the large crowds with some exciting basketball. The result was that for the next 8 years when Galesburg was going to State, they had 4 to 5 times more people at all of their games. No community then or since has matched the support the Galesburg girls received.

Bonny Apsey went onto play basketball at the University of Illinois. Stef Mitchell went onto play golf for the University of Missouri. Ami Pendry played basketball at CSC then at Wayne State. Sara Wood played for Kirkwood JC, where they took 5th in the Nation then at Kansas Benedictine. Jen Bulkeley played basketball at University of the South at Sewanee.

Galesburg Regional/Sectional

Galesburg 57- Pekin 39

Galesburg 57- Morton 39

Galesburg 52- Quincy 49

Galesburg 69- Peoria ND 51

Pekin Super-Sectional

Normal Comm. 62- Galesburg 42

Galesburg Roster

Molly Watson, Sara Wood, Stef Mitchell, Gina Miller, Bonny Apsey, Ami Pendry, Jen Bulkeley, Mandy Rinker, Jenny Cirmotich, Jen Wright, Heidi Gengenbacher, Julie Lofing, Angie Galyean, Steph Latham, Kathy Kelley

Coaches- Evan Massey, Steve Peachey, Michael Rux, Michelle Wynne

Related Blogs

1994 Michigan Camp

Going Beyond Tradition