EVENT UPDATES

Springfield 5/24-25 The team opened the year playing against girls one to two years older. The team took it on the chin to Champaign, Rochester, and the Bloomington Panthers. On Sunday, the team lost to Rochester again, but were very competitive with the Bloomington Panthers. The team was tied with 5 minutes left, but eventually fell by 8.

Springfield 6/14-15 The team showed drastic improvement, but were again playing against older girls. The team was competitive again in each game before losing each game. The team lost to West Suburban, Illini West, Bloomington Knockouts, Bloomington Panthers, and Rochester.

Mt. Zion 6/19-20 The team played great over the two day tournament. The was ahead most of the game against Mt. Zion. However, the team gave up the lead late and lost 17-16. The second game was just as competitive. The team played another close one. This time losing to Breese 20-19. On Friday, the team opened with Paris Mayo. Again, the team fell short 20-16 after a valiant effort against a very physical Paris team. The team finally put it together against Monticello and picked up their first victory of the year 21-5. The team then bounced back against Breese with a hard fought 22-14 victory. Not to be outdone, the team put together their best performance to date with a solid 29-17 win against a considerably bigger opponent. The team outhustled Salem picking up most of the loose balls. The team ended the tournament 3-3, but very easily could have been 6-0.

Belleville 6/21 Against the host Belleville Jets, he team played hard, but could not get any shots to fall. The game went back and forth. In the end, the team fell 24-22. The next two games were against great competition. The team lost to the St. Louis Cougars 52-14 and the Missouri Rockets 53-15. With 9 games in three days, the team was physically and mentally exhausted. However, the team picked up 3 wins over that time and could have easily been 6 or 7. The team started to come together.

Decatur 7/12-13 The team opened with the Eagles A team. The team was competitive early, but eventually fell 34-14. In their second game, the team played the Eagles B team. The team played great leading 30-28 with 5 minutes left. However, playing short 3 players and another getting injured, the team ran out of gas and fell 38-30. On Saturday, the team played Eagles A team again. This time the team played well forcing the Eagles to use all four time outs during the game. In the end the Eagles held on. In the second game of the day, the team trailed 10-4 with about 6 minutes left. However, after a time out Brooklyn Crum hit a cutting Bree Ann Derhake for a lay up to cut it to 4. Then Ashley Brown got a rebound basket to make it 2. Jillian Mulvany then scored on an inbounds play to tie it. After a basket by Champaign, Amanda Williams tied it back up to send it to overtime. In the overtime period, Ashley Brown scored on an inbouds play and Regan Fitzgerald hit a free throw late to give the team a 17-14 overtime win. The final game was against the Bloomington Panthers. However, the team did not play particularly well and lost 31-11.

Bloomington National Tourney 7/20-23 The team opened with the Central A&M Raiders. The game was 9-6 at the half, but the team never scored again and lost 26-6. Game 2 was against the Bloomington Panthers. For the fifth time, the Panthers won 31-8. Day two got off to a good start. The team battled a good St. Louis Northstars team. The team was only down 6-4 with 5 minutes left in the half. The game ended up 26-4, but the final was not indicitive of the effort. The second game of the day was against the Peoria Angels. The team was able to get good shots, but could not get any to fall. The team was down 9-4 at the half, but fell 32-7. On the third day, the team opened with Champaign. Trailing 17-7 with four minutes left, the team went on a scoring binge. Regan Fitzgerald, Jillian Mulvany, Catie Costa, Lexi Clark, and Brooklyn Crum all had baskets to tie the game at 17. After two Champaign baskets in the last minute, the team was down 21-17 with 30 seconds left. Amanda Williams hit a baseline shot to cut it to 2. After a time out to set up the press, Amanda Williams stole the inbounds pass, but the team failed to connect on any of their final four shots in the last 10 seconds to tie it. Kyleigh Vaught contributed as well with 5 first half points to keep the team in the game early. In the second game of the day, the team played Peoria close for 10 minutes - only trailing 6-4. The last 30 minutes were all Peoria as they won 48-5. The tournament portion started on Wednesday. The team started with the Bloomington Lady Shockers. This was a total team effort as 8 players scored with none having more than 6. The team broke open a close game at half time with a 31-17 victory. The semi-final game was against the Central A&M Raiders. The team got off to a slow start and eventually lost 34-13. The team is currently 5-26. The team has played against older competition all season and has the lumps to show for it. However, the players have shown great improvement individually and collectively. This should show as they play with their school teams this season. It was a great season and I have enjoyed coaching these young women.