Galesburg basketball teams 2nd in Illinois in victories: Streaks teams ramp up
GALESBURG — Evan Massey is starting his 45th year as coach of Galesburg High School girls basketball.
Chad Thompson is starting his second year as coach of Silver Streaks boys basketball.
But both have two of the winningest programs in the state and will try to improve on that success as their seasons open over the next two weeks.
The GHS girls will host their annual Meet the Streaks scrimmages on Thursday at Thiel Gym while the boys will conduct their preseason scrimmage for the public on Friday night.
The frosh-soph girls will scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with a parents meeting to follow in the school's Commons and the varsity will scrimmage for a half at 7 p.m. with parents asked to meet with coaches in the Commons after the scrimmage.
The boys scrimmages will feature seventh graders at 5:30 p.m., eighth graders at 5:40, freshmen at 6, sophomores at 6:30 and varsity at 7 p.m.
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Special season for girls
The Streaks girls are gearing up for a special season which should include the 1,000th victory in the program's history.
GHS starts the season with 995 program wins — 966 of those coached by Massey — and will start its final push for that milestone by hosting Limestone in a 7 p.m. game Tuesday.
That will be followed by the Galesburg Shootout next weekend when the Streaks play Freeport on Nov. 18 and Glenwood Chatham and Washington on Nov. 19.
"We did a call out to alumni and friends to make orders for commerative T-shirts," said Massey of special plans for the achievement.
"The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association recognized boys teams with 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 wins. They recognize girls teams at 2,000.
"Hopefully we get there," said Massey, whose team went 23-11 and won a regional title last year.
"The only other programs over 1,000 are Chicago Marshall, Teutopolis, Peoria Richwoods and Illini West."
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Boys team high on the list
According to Massey, the combined total of victories from the Streaks boys and girls programs totals about 2,800 for all time.
That ranks Galesburg High School only behind Teutopolis in the state of Illinois.
Thompson's first team last season contributed an impressive 23-8 mark to that total.
"It really was a trial by fire with COVID and the pace of things," said Thompson of his debut season.
"But we've got a new team, a new playing style and that goes with our youth.
"I'm excited about our speed and activity level."
The Streaks boys will open the season Monday, Nov. 21, with Canton to open the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament.
A game worth nothing: DeKalb will visit Thiel Gym for the Hall of Fame game Nov. 26. The Barbs are coached by former Silver Streaks coach Mike Reynolds.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Galesburg IL hoops teams 2nd in Illinois in wins behind Teutopolis
