By John Ring
Published in The Burg July 15, 2021
GALESBURG - In one of the final games of the Galesburg Summer Basketball Tournament, the Silver Streak girls team looked to be in mid-season form.
They ran hard, their full court press was effective, their passes were crisp and precise and the offense was productive.
Summer basketball can sometimes be misleading but on this night, the Streaks could hardly do anything wrong. “Coach [Evan] Massey told us there would be good nights and some bad nights
but things are leveling off right now,” said senior Abbe Davidson, a 6-2 post player about their summer play. “But tonight, we were clicking and doing everything pretty fast.”
“Our main focus is to be a running team. We want to get it out quickly to the point guard and get down the court. We want to fast break even when there isn’t a fast break.”
That was the genre of basketball that set the Streaks apart from most other high school teams when they were piling together Sectional Championships and 25-win seasons. And watching them tear apart Normal, even in a summer game, brought back flashes from 1996.
Davidson herself is two-years off a severe knee injury and she’s moving effortlessly and getting into the flow too. This is a big season for her because coming back from a knee injury takes time and is never easy. “I was confident in the knee last season when we played but it’s taken some time, even into this summer where I’m back at a hundred per cent,” said Abbe. “The more time I get, the better I feel.”
“I feel really good for the upcoming season. We lost some great seniors and we’re trying to fill their roles the best we can but things are falling into place for us. Kiarra [Kilgore] is just crazy good and she is so versatile she can help us out a lot. She can literally do anything. I think we can be a force this year and we’re hoping we can.”
Getting back into John Thiel Gym after a massive rehabilitation project for the 60-plus year old high school would also be a nice advantage. “It just wasn’t the same playing there in the Fieldhouse,” said Davidson. “No matter what we tried to do, it wasn’t the same. So it will be nice
to get back in our Gym. I felt bad for last year’s seniors, they were such good players and they deserved a better year. It’s way more fun in the Gym with the fans.”
That would be fitting for Abby Davidson, who was stymied by the knee injury two years ago. She was the third player to go down that way within a brief period of time (four if you count Kailee
Miller) and it takes time to recover from those injuries.
But back at Thiel Gym for a new season, and her senior year to boot, Davidson is hoping to go out with a bang.
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