THE CONFLUENCE

March12 and 13 Confluence Center Coast Juniors competed in the first ever State High School Wheelchair Basketball Championships. Coast is one of six registered junior teams in the State of Illinois. Mike Frogley, U. of Illinois at Champaign Wheelchair Basketball Coach has been working with the IHSA to promote wheelchair basketball throughout the state by offering a variety of clinics to juniors with physical disabilities. This state championship was a major step forward as the IHSA endorsed the tournament which was held in conjunction with the IHSA Boys Class A State Finals in the convention center in Peoria, IL.

Juniors competing included James Clark, Jesse Cox, Chris DeWall, Aleki Fualau, JD Hall, Nell Mack, and Justin Siebert. The six teams were divided into two pools of three teams. On Friday, Coast played Peoria and defeated them soundly. Then Coast lost to Windy City, the top seeds. On Saturday Coast enjoyed another victory to take third place.

February 21st and 22nd Confluence Center Coast competed in the NWBA Southeastern Regional in Cumming, Georgia. James Clark, Jesse Cox, Chris DeWall, Colin DeWitt, Nell Mack, and Justin Siebert represented The Confluence and were coached by Clayton De Laney and Steve DeWall. Although, we were 0-3 for the tournament, the team had a great time and continues to gain experience. We also had an opportunity to play two teams that we had not played against this year.  Pictures below:
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February 14th and 15th Confluence Center Coast Junior Basketball competed in the NWBA Midwest Conference Championship Tournament  in Valparaiso, Indiana. While Coast did not win a game on the score board, they won in their hearts and captured the hearts of many fans. As a team, Coast was noticeably smaller and younger than the other four teams competing, but their effort and attitude was as big as the conference champions. Under Matt Glowacki and Steve DeWall's direction, the team improved every game. James Clark, Jesse Cox, Chris DeWall, Colin DeWitt, Cameron Oestringer, Steven Schrader, and Justin Siebert had a great weekend and gave the best their best performances to date. All team members began to demonstrate real teamwork through good communication, rebounding, setting great picks, and making good passes that set up their teammates for good scoring opportunities. Justin, Chris, Cameron, and Jesse shared the offensive scoring effort. Jesse put in two points in the first game. Cameron scored a total of twelve points for the weekend. Chris led the scoring in the first game with ten points and scored twenty-five for the weekend. Justin really found his shot after scoring four the first game, he put in fourteen, twenty-one, and fifteen points respectively for a weekend total of fifty-four points. He couldn't have had that much success without the great passes, picks, and screens from all his teammates. Justin had several other highlights at the tournament as he was named to the Conference All-Academic Team and the All-Tournament Team. Congratulations to Justin and his family. The juniors look forward to traveling to Atlanta, Georgia this weekend, February 20th, for the NWBA Southeast Regional Tournament.
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January 2004 Confluence Center Coast Adult Basketball traveled to Lawrence, Kansas for its final weekend of National Wheelchair Basketball Association Midwest Conference Competition. Lacking any Class 1 players, Center Coast could not comply with the classification point rule, therefore games were played with the final scores being recorded as a 2-0 forfeits in the official scorebook. However, all four games were hotly contested with Coast winning two and losing two as the scores appeared on the gymnasium scoreboard.

Players representing Coast included Brent Bicket, Silas Cox, Clayton De Laney, Matt Glowacki, Bill Mesey, and Maria Whelan. Coached by Brent Bicket, Center Coast had their most successful weekend this year.

Coasts' first game was against Madonna Magic from Nebraska. Playing with only five players as Silas Cox could not make it to the first game, Coast competed well against Magic who had four subs. Coast played Magic almost even the first half, but the final score was 52-38. Scoring was shared by Glowacki (18 pts.), De Laney (11 pts.) and Bicket (10 pts.).

The addition of Silas Cox made a significant difference giving Coast much needed height and more scoring power. Coast played the Kansas Wheelhawks second and only lost by 10 to the strongest team in the conference. Final score was 38-28. Cox was high scorer with 12 pts., De Laney put in 6,  Bicket and Glowacki had 4 each, and Mesey added 2 pts.

Sunday Coast took on the Iowa Chairiots and Kansas City Thunder in back to back games. Center Coast handled the Chairiots easily successfully pressing them and converting many turnovers into two points. Final score was 57-21.  Cox - 20, De Laney - 11, Glowacki -10, Mesey -10, Bicket - 6.

Thunder was tougher, but Coast had gained confidence and played strong to shut down Thunder's scoring threats. Final score was 45-33. De Laney - 16, Glowacki - 14, Bicket -10, Cox - 3, Mesey - 2.

Thanks to the players for committing their weekend to Center Coast basketball. We had a great time and look forward to our next competition. See pictures below:

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Juniors making this trip included Jesse Cox, Chris DeWall, Michael Key, Nell Mack, Brittany Oestringer, Cameron Oestringer, and Justin Siebert. Although winless on the weekend, the juniors once again had a great time and welcomed Michael to his first ever wheelchair basketball experience.