West survives to fight again

Normal Community Ironmen and the Normal Community West Wildcats duel in IHSA Regional

Lots of tense moments, lots of tough decisions, lots of teamwork, lots of friends, lots of foes, lots of sadness, lots of joy. In overtime, the Wildcats hold on to a 2 point lead that had 2 opportunities to be a lose. Not a lot one can add to the action that happened inside the black lines or inside the Shirk Center. The stories will be told for at least a generation. you had to be there, or you need to read the story by Steve Robinson in the upcoming Normalite Newspaper.


20120302 NCWHS v NCHS Regional - Images by Alan Look

Community West and Community meet again

Just a day shy of a month later, the Normal Community West Wildcats will meet up with the Normal Community Ironmen for one last time this season. On February 3rd, the Wildcats hosted the Ironmen and also lost to them. This time they meet on neutral wood at the Shirk Center for the IHSA Regional Championship and the right to move on to the IHSA Sectionals. The game originally slated for play in Danville has been moved to the Shirk Center in BLoomington and tips off at 7:30pm Friday March 2. Hope to see ya there.



20120203 NCHS v West - Images by Alan Look

Birds get Valley Acknoledgements

As always before the MVC tournament starts, the Missouri Valley Conference hands out it's yearly awards. This year three Redbirds get a nod.

Jackie Carmichael - 2nd team all conference
Tyler Brown - All Newcomer team
Nic Moore - All Freshman team

Doug McDermott was named the Larry Bird Player of the year.

Well, I think one more is in order. I really enjoyed watching Bryant Allen this year. He has got my vote for Happiest Player on the Court. He can hit a three open or not and if you take away the outside on him, he's going to find the open guy or take you inside. Still while doing all that, he has the largest smile on his face of anyone in the arena.

Of course, it wouldn't be a real Chimperscage blog entry with out some Alan Look photos.

McDermott:

Doug McDermott - Images by Alan Look

Carmichael:

Jackie Carmichael - Images by Alan Look

Brown:

Tyler Brown - Images by Alan Look

Moore:

Nic Moore - Images by Alan Look

Allen:

Bryant Allen - Images by Alan Look

Congrats to all.

LeRoy Lady Panthers take IHSA Class 1a 4th place hardware

Illini Bluffs Girls Basketball v Leroy Panthers Girls Basketball IHSA Consolation Game

It's always a heartbreaker for the players, coaches, families and communities to see their team make it to the IHSA State Basketball finals and not take 1st. Over time everyone realizes that they beat out a whole lot of people to even get that pass tag to Redbird Arena. It generally sets the tone to do even better the following year. In the end, everyone will have the memory of being one of the four best teams in the state for the rest of their lives.

Congrats and enjoy the lifetime memory to all 4 teams, but especially the LeRoy Panthers as they hail from just 15 miles down the road.


20120225 Illini Bluffs v LeRoy - Images by Alan Look