GALESBURG — The Galesburg High School girls basketball team hung with Rock Island for the first five minutes of Western Big 6 Conference action Monday night at John Thiel Gymnasium.
But the Rocks, ranked No. 4 in Class 4A, ended up with a 77-37 victory over the Silver Streaks and their 28th straight league win. Rocky, who has won the WB6 crown the last six seasons, is the first boys or girls basketball program in conference history to accomplish the feat.
“It hasn’t been just this year’s team. A lot of kids have worked hard. It’s been a program thing,” Rock Island coach Thad Hoover said of the league wins streak. “We’ve had a lot of kids that have worked hard and not all of them are DI players but we have had a lot of kids come through and make their contributions to us.
“We’ve had a nice run but those previous conference titles don’t win any games the next year. We just have to keep working hard as a program to stay where we are at.”
Junior Chloe McCarthy made a 3-pointer with 5:55 left in the first quarter to open the scoring and give Galesburg (14-14, 3-5) an early lead. The game was tied at 5-5 with 4:57 left in the frame. However, Rock Island (19-7, 9-0) closed the quarter with a 21-1 run for a 26-6 lead over Galesburg after the stanza concluded.
“The first five minutes we played well. I thought we defended. We rebounded and didn’t give them second shots and then the last three minutes of the first quarter they blew it open,” Streaks coach Evan Massey said. “It was a case where we kind of didn’t protect the basket and they got some stuff there.”
Galesburg and Rocky battled back-and-forth in the second quarter with both squads scoring 16 points. The Streaks faced a 42-22 deficit at the half.
“I thought our energy got better as the first half went on,” Hoover said. “I like the way we pushed the ball. I liked the way we went after the boards and then defensively we started to get some takeaways and get up and down the court and I think that got us going.”
Galesburg netted just 15 points in the final 16 minutes while Rock Island walked away with 35 and the win.
“In the second and third quarter we could have had a pity party but I thought we instead tried to compete one possession at a time and I was proud of how they handled the situation,” Massey said.
Senior guard Chrislyn Carr had a game-high 28 points for the Rocks. Junior Brea Beal, who was named Illinois’ Ms. Basketball and also won the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year Award in 2016-17, chipped in 25 points for Rocky.
“There is a reason all kinds of colleges in America are looking at those two kids,” Massey said of Carr and Beal. “The key is to complete and I thought our kids competed.”
Yvonne Mixon had nine points and 10 rebounds to lead the Streaks.
In sophomore action, Galesburg suffered a 53-41 loss to Rock Island.
The Streaks faced a 23-18 deficit at intermission and were down 36-26 after three quarters.
Tiara Pendleton had 13 points and Riley Jenkins had 12 points for Galesburg.
The Rocks’ Hannah Simmer had a game-high 20 points and Morgan Freeman pitched in 11.
Varsity
Rock Island 77, Galesburg 37
Roc 26-16-19-26 — 77
Gal 6-16-8-7 — 37
Rock Island (19-7, 9-0): Carr 10-15 4-4 28, Beal 8-20 7-8 25, Hall 2-4 0-1 8, Parker 2-3 0-2 6, Simmer 2-3 0-0 4, Rodriguez 1-1 0-0 2, Walls 1-1 0-0 2, Williams 0-4 1-2 1, Awour 0-1 1-2 1, Thomer 0-5 0-0 0, Camlin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-57 13-21 77.
Galesburg (14-14, 3-5): Mixon 2-5 5-8 9, Sampson 3-7 2-2 8, Meinert 2-8 3-3 7, Range 2-4 2-6 6, McCarthy 1-2 0-0 3, Lingafelter 1-5 0-0 2, Legge 0-1 1-2 1, Tucker 0-0 1-2 1, Chockley 0-1 0-1 0, Campbell 0-3 0-0 0, Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Gugliotta 0-0 0-0 0, Pendleton 0-0 0-0 0, Pendergast 0-0 0-0 0, Peck 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-36 14-24 37.
3-point goals: Galesburg 1-13 (McCarthy 1-2, Sampson 0-5, Meinert 0-1, LIngafelter 0-3, Campbell 0-2), Rock Island 10-27 (Carr 4-6, Beal 2-7, Parker 2-3, Hall 2-3, Thomer 0-4, Simmer 0-1, Williams 0-3). Fouls: Galesburg 13, Rock Island 18.
Sophomores
Rock Island 53, Galesburg 41
Roc 14-9-13-17 — 53
Gal10-8-8-15 — 41
Rock Island: Simmer 9 1-5 20, Freeman 4 3-5 11, Engholm 3 2-6 8, Winter 2 2-2 6, Larson 2 1-2 6, Williams 1 0-0 2, Jalloh 0 0-0 0, Sims 0 0-0 0, Rowell 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 9-20 53.
Galesburg: Pendleton 5 3-6 13, Jenkins 6 0-0 12, Stevenson 3 0-0 6, Peck 3 0-0 6, Jefferson 1 0-0 2, Miller 1 0-0 2, Brown 0 0-0 0, Milroy 0 0-0 0, Rehn 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 3-6 41.
3-point goals: Galesburg 0, Rock Island 2 (Larson 1, Simmer 1). Fouls: Galesburg 15, Rock Island 11.