The Rock Island gtirls basketball team led by last year's Illinois Ms. Basketball Brea Beal will visit the Galesburg Silver Streaks on Thursday.
Rock Island (12-6, 5-0) at
Galesburg (9-10, 2-3)
6:30 p.m. Thursday
John Thiel Gym
WB6 Conference contest
Worth noting:
Rock Island is led by last year's Illinois Ms. Basketball Brea Beal, a 6-0 junior and Chrislyn Carr, a senior commited to Texas Tech.
Last meeting:
Galesburg opened the Western Big 6 Conference schedule at Rock Island and the Streaks fell to the Rocks 58-24 back in November.
Galesburg had no one score more than the six points Emily Meinert and Lauryn Campbell netted. The Streaks had just six made baskets and 30 shot attempts, while the Rocks got 55 shots off.
Last time out: Galesburg fought back-and-forth with Dunlap on Monday night in a non-conference game at John Thiel Gymnasium.
But the Silver Streaks weren’t able to put the Eagles away and they suffered a 58-51 loss.
Galesburg trailed Dunlap 10-9 after the first quarter.
The Streaks opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run and held a 16-10 advantage with 6:08 left before the intermission.
GHS closed with a 6-0 run and held a 28-23 edge at the half.
The game was tied at 40-all heading into the final eight minutes and Dunlap outscored Galesburg 18-11 in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
Junior Andrea Sampson went 5-for-6 from 3-point range and led Galesburg with 15 points. Junior Kelsi Legge added 13 points for the Streaks.
Rock Island suffered a 53-40 loss to Pleasant Valley (Iowa) in Saturday’s final game at the IHMVCU Shootout at Wharton Field House in Moline.
The Rocks’ two stars — Brea Beal and Chrislyn Carr — were non-factors for the most part.
Rocky turned the ball over 21 times in the game.
Galesburg coach Evan Massey says: “We have to defend. We have to take care of the ball. We have to keep working and improving. The girls are working hard. They are coachable. We are progressing and getting better. It’s just not as fast as they would like or I would like but we are getting better.”
About the Streaks: Massey is in his 40th season coaching Galesburg and holds a 891-331 career mark.
Sampson is Massey’s only returning starter and is averaging almost 9.5 points per contest and is 37-for-102 (36 percent) from 3-point range.
Senior Emily Meinert, a 6-foot post, is leading the Streaks with an average of 10.2 points and is averaging 6.5 rebounds per affair.
In league affairs, Meinert is averaging almost 13 points a game.
Galesburg committed 23 turnovers in Monday’s loss to Dunlap and needs to reduce that number in order to secure a victory over Rocky.
Massey says: “When we don’t turn the ball over we are pretty good and when we turn it over we are average.”
About the Rocks: Rock Island has won the WB6 crown the last six seasons. The Rocks are powered by Beal and Carr and are the favorites to win the league in 2017-18 and are one of the top teams in Illinois, as well.
Rocky finished 31-2 last season, one game short of the state tournament.
Beal, a 6-foot junior guard/forward, was named Illinois’ Ms. Basketball and also won the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year Award in 2016-17. She also claimed first team all-state honors last year, averaging 20.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.
Carr, a Texas Tech recruit, is a senior who averaged over 15 points last year after transferring into the program from Davenport West.
Up next…
Galesburg will face Providence Catholic at noon in New Lenox and then travel to play against Minooka in Minooka at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in its annual Martin Luther King tourney.
Providence Catholic held a 9-9 overall record heading into the week. The Celtics were scheduled to face DePaul College Prep on Tuesday and St. Laurence on Thursday in a Catholic Athletic Conference-White affair.
Minooka held a 7-6 overall mark at the beginning of the week. The Indians are slated to face Joliet West in a road contest Thursday.