Massey Basketball: Streaks Scrapbook- 2000- Girls 4th in State- Part 3

The Streaks finished the regular season 29-1 and ranked #2 in Illinois. Galesburg was 9-1 in the WB6, taking first place. They won the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tourney, the Grand Championship of the Bloomington Christmas Tourney, and the Galesburg MLK Tourney.

At this time the IHSA had coaches seed the entire Regional/Sectional Complex. Galesburg was seeded #1 by the coaches, so they received a first round bye and then hosted the winner of the #8/9 games- LaSalle-Peru for the Regional Championship. LP was coached by Luke Yaklich, who went onto to be a men’s assistant at Illinois State, Michigan, and Texas before becoming the head coach at Illinois- Chicago.

Galesburg Regional Championship- Galesburg 60 LaSalle-Peru 35

The Streaks dominated the boards 39-23, including a string of 4 offensive boards and 8 points by Sarah Pacheco, Whitney Snyder, and Kimi Peck. Galesburg forced 27 turnovers in the game, on their way to a comfortable 60-35 win. Sarah and Megan Pacheco led the Streaks with 11 and 10 points, while Whitney Snyder pulled down 8 rebounds.

The win was Galesburg’s 13th consecutive Regional championship. The most consecutive Regional titles in State history were Centralia with 25 from 1945-1969, and in girls East St. Louis with 18. Galesburg boys basketball won 16 straight from 1955-1970.

Streator Sectional- Galesburg 57 Rock Island 42

Galesburg advanced to the Streator Sectional, where their first round opponent was Rock Island. December 2, Galesburg beat RI 81-48 and then on Jan. 20 by 76-65. Going into the game, Michelle Flaar was questionable coming off of mono.

Rocky led much of the game. With 4:40 to go in the third quarter the Rocks led 30-26. Behind Megan Pacheco and Ashley Shepherd, the Streaks went on a 10-0 run to take a 36-30 lead. Rock Island had cut the lead to 40-36 with 6:10 to go in the fourth quarter. At that point, the Streaks went on a 7-0 lead to go up 11, and went away with a 57-42 lead.

The Streaks were led by Megan Pacheco 18, Sarah Pacheco 12, Ashley Shepherd 11 and 8 rebounds.

Streator Sectional Championship- Galesburg 69 Moline 59 (OT)

Galesburg faced Moline in the Sectional Championship. The Streaks had defeated the Maroons twice in the regular season- Jan. 6 72-40 and Feb. 10 56-41. This game was going to be much different. Moline led 27-17 at half-time. Galesburg did not tie the game until Jaque Howard hit a three with 5:31 to go in the fourth to make it 45-45. Here is the timeline of one of the most hectic finishes ever:

1:58- Whitney Snyder makes 1 ft. G-52, M-53

1:40- Megan Pacheco missed two ft’s. G-52, M-53

0:36- Cassandra Hallstrom makes 2 ft’s. G-52, M-55

0:28- Galesburg misses 3 point shot. G-52, M-55

0:14- Galesburg fouls, Moline shooter misses both ft’s. G-52, M-55

0:06- Jaque Howard misses a three. G-52, M-55.

0:04- Michelle Flaar gets offensive rebound and passes out to Megan Pacheco.

0:01- Megan Pacheco hits a three at the buzzer. G-55, M-55.

In overtime, Galesburg led 59-58 with 1:40 to go. The Streaks finished the OT with a 10-1 run to win the game 69-59. Megan Pacheco scored 17 of her 25 points in the second half and the OT. Sarah Pacheco and Whitney Snyder each had 8 rebounds.

This was Galesburg’s 6th straight Sectional championship. The State record for consecutive Sectional championships was Teutopolis with 8.

NIU Super-Sectional- Galesburg 68 Harlem 63

The Streaks advanced to NIU for a Super-Sectional rematch with Harlem. Galesburg had defeated Harlem the year before in the Super by 65-64 in OT. Harlem featured All-American Aminata Yanni. The 6’1” star was headed to the University of Illinois. Along with her, they had 6’2” Janelle Cazy and 6’2” Amanda Eckberg.

Despite their height advantage, Galesburg got 18 offensive rebounds and won the rebound battle 40-35. Whitney Snyder pulled down 7 offensive rebounds.

In the fourth, Galesburg had a comfortable 59-44 lead before Harlem went on a13-0 run (Yanni 10 of the points), to cut the game to 59-57 with 2:59 to go. The Streaks knocked down 7 of 8 ft’s in the last minute to lock up a 68-63 win.

Not only did the Streaks win the boards, as usual, they dominated the free throw line. Harlem was 5-7 from the line while Galesburg was 20-23. Yanni had 36 points on 35 shots. Galesburg had only 10 turnovers on the night.

Despite breaking her nose, Sarah Pacheco did not come out and led the Streaks with 23 points. Megan had 19 points.

This was Galesburg’s fifth straight Super-Sectional win, one behind the record of East St. Louis.

Elite 8 Normal- Galesburg 51 West Aurora 45

Galesburg was matched vs Aurora West with 6’5” Penn State recruit, Jackie Shook. She averaged 21.9ppg.

Galesburg got off to a fast start, going up 10-0 then leading 28-18 at half. With 6:49 to go, Galesburg had a comfortable 42-29 lead. As the result of going 5 minutes without a basket, West Aurora cut the lead to 42-41 with just over 3 minutes to go. Galesburg hung onto the ball and made their free throws to win the game 51-45.

State Semi-Finals- Chicago Washington 54 Galesburg 45

It looked like it was going to be a good day for the Streaks led 31-21 at half-time. Washington shot a dismal 9 of 29 from the field in the first half. Jaque Howard drained three 3 pointers in the first half.

Washington knotted the game midway through the third quarter at 34-34. The score went back and forth before Washington took the lead for good on a three with 1:30 to go in the game.

State Third Place Game- Fenwick 63 Galesburg 44