Jamie Johnson and a few of her Galesburg High School girls basketball teammates ventured to Peoria on Sunday to celebrate Johnson’s 18th birthday.
Then she let the party roll right into the Silver Streaks’ 61-34 rout of Ottawa on Monday.
“I might have to go home and have some more cake,” Johnson said after the Class 3A Metamora Sectional semifinal victory.
She certainly deserved dessert after her career-high, 25-point performance against the Pirates.
She certainly deserved dessert after her career-high, 25-point performance against the Pirates.
In a game where the Streaks’ torrid early outside shooting set the tone, it was the senior’s inside play in the second half that helped things go from slightly in question to a no-doubt-about-it Galesburg victory, scoring 11 straight points in the Streaks’ 18-0 run to close the third quarter and go up 55-26.
“At halftime we felt we had to get the ball inside more,” Streaks coach Evan Massey said. “Jamie was the one with the ball and did a great job.”
She drew fouls and got to the free-throw line. She cut through the lane and took a Tai Peachey pass for an easy bucket. Then she bulled her way to the basket on back-to-back drives.
“She’s a beast,” Peachey said.
The “beast” turned in a beauty of a game against the Pirates, finishing 9-for-12 from the floor.
“This,” Massey said, “is not a surprise. This is not the first time Jamie’s had a big game for us.”
No, but it’s about time to shine a bigger spotlight on the player who might be the most important to Galesburg’s run-and-gun style of play. Sure, Jessica Howard steals the show because she’s catapulting record-setting 3-pointers from every which way on the court, but often times Johnson and fellow forward Sadee Hamilton have just as big of a hand in things.
“Howard gets the flash — and should — because she’s a great shooter,” Massey said, “but quietly Jamie and Sadee are the ones who do the dirty work.”
Many times you’ll see Johnson initiating Galesburg’s offense at the top of the key. Then later on you’ll find Hamilton, who had five points and four boards against Ottawa, pulling down a rebound and kicking it out for a teammate to get another open look.
“It’s kind of like a football thing,” Massey said. “Jamie and Sadee are the linemen that nobody identifies with, but they have to do everything for us.”
Johnson has grown — quite literally — into that kind of all-around player. She started out playing point guard in junior high before a late growth spurt helped form her into a 5-foot-10 forward when she got to high school.
“When I was in sixth grade and Jessica Howard was in sixth grade she made me look like a midget,” Johnson said. “Then by the time I was in eighth grade I was almost as tall as she was. Then in high school she stopped growing and I kept growing.”
She first made her mark for the Streaks when she grabbed a team-high 17 rebounds at Quincy as a sophomore. Then last season she came off the bench and saw significant minutes in Galesburg’s first year of The System. This year she became a starting post player and joined Howard on the all-conference team, using her experience in the backcourt to her advantage.
“Jamie is like another point guard,” Peachey said. “She rebounds, she draws fouls, she shoots and she knows what she’s doing. She knows the situation and handles it well.”
Like it’s a piece of cake.
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