Heyworth Hornets girls host travelling trophy for very first time!

The Heyworth girl's basketball team on paper is short on experience, especially in the depth of the bench.  The roster shows 4 seniors and the rest are all sophomores.  The lack of juniors would normally signal an alarm, and it probably does in this situation as well. The 4 seniors take the center, forward and one guard positions, whilst the starting sophomore handles the point guard duties.  It served them well in the defeat of the Eureka Hornets.  When I first looked up at the scoreboard it read 21-7, Heyworth in charge.  Eureka managed to bring it back to within 5 a couple of times, but Heyworth ended the comp at the buzzer with a 67-56 victory.  The sophomores that came in from the bench showed great poise and potential.  The Hornets outlook is good.

Eureka had hosted the travelling trophy since the end of last year, their first year of eligibility after joining the HOIC.  Us old timers know that those golden globed trophies started their existence in the McLean County Tournament.  It always warms our hearts to see them inside our county lines.  Thank you to the Heyworth Hornets for bringing it back home.  It's tradition!

I must also mention that (and most that know me at least subconsciously know this) I have a specially good time photographing refs and coaches.  Coach Tony Griffin is becoming one of my favorites.  Lots of emotion, lots of animation and all exactly in the right place!

Go Hornets!

Be sure to check the Alan Look Photography facebook page for discount codes on prints and files!

Ridgeview Girls defeat the armor of Blue Ridge

The Blue Ridge Lady Knights and the Ridgeview Mustangs tipped off Heart of (HOIC) play on the 27th of November on Kellars Court in Colfax.  The Mustangs moved out to a 12-2 start and held the lead throughout the competition soundly defeating the Knights at the final buzzer by 36 points.

Ridgeview Girls defeat the armor of Blue Ridge

The Blue Ridge Lady Knights and the Ridgeview Mustangs tipped off Heart of (HOIC) play on the 27th of November on Kellars Court in Colfax.  The Mustangs moved out to a 12-2 start and held the lead throughout the competition soundly defeating the Knights at the final buzzer by 36 points.

Pioneers and Raiders top their opponents in Intercity play by a combined 7 points.

Boys Intercity always has a couple good rivalry games.  For years, the Central Catholic Saints and the University High Pioneers have had a pretty good one.  This years seems no different, maybe even a little moreso since they are now in different conferences.  The whole game was a back and forth affair that had the Saints trailing most of the night.  They closed the gap in the 4th quarter and nearly won it in the last minutes with a foul to get the ball back strategy.  In the end, the Pioneers remained on top by 4.

BHS and NCHS have had a rivalry for years, even before Normal West came to exist.  The game last night was between the West Wildcats and the Bloomington Raiders.  They also have a rivalry, but with 2 of the best players in the state - one on each team - the game took on a tone of its own.  The Shirk Center was 3 rows deep of standing room only during the 4th quarter of the earlier game.  At the start of this affair the SRO had dwindled to just one row.  Lots of fans stayed to watch this game.  The game didn't disappoint.  There were at least 4 dunks, 2 intentional fouls and one good discussion between an official and a coach.  It was maybe the best high school basketball game we have seen in 5 years.  In the end, the Raiders took it by 3 points.

MVC Volleyball Tournament served up at Redbird Arena

For the first time since 2006, the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Volleyball Tournament is being held at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal Illinois.  Participating teams are the Drake Bulldogs, Indiana State Sycamores, Valparaiso Crusaders, Illinois State Redbirds, Missouri State Bears and Northern Iowa Panthers.  The Bears pulled in the #1 ranking followed by the Panthers as #2.  Both teams had the first round off.  The Redbirds ranked 3rd.  Surviving the 1st round were the Sycamores and the Redbirds.  Round two will pit the Sycamores against the Bears and the Redbirds against the Panthers. 

Litwiler puts on 3 point show during Quincy Hawks loss to Illinois State Redbirds

If you skipped last nights game at Redbird Arena, you missed a good game to watch some of the players that don't dust the floor very often.  Among those was Luke Litwiler, a walk on from Olympia High School who hit 3 points from beyond the arch and narrowly missed a 4th bringing the crowd to their feet!

Heyworth Boys survive visit from Warrensburg Latham Cardinals

In what looked like it would be a runaway win for the Hornets in the beginning of each half ended with a 2 point lead for the Hornets as they got possession of the ball with split seconds left avoiding a last second tie by the Cardinals. The Hornets successfully hit a lot of outside shots for 3 points.