For some area fans, it may seem like only yesterday when Steve Glasgow was feeding the ball to Galesburg High School teammates Joey Range and Rod Thompson on the Streaks’ run to the Class AA state title game. And it may not seem that long ago that Carrie Yerkey was leading the rise of the Alexis Cardinals’ girls basketball program.

Not only have those stars seen the end of their high school days, but their collegiate careers may come to a close as well this week, beginning Wednesday at Monmouth College’s Glennie Gym. The men’s and women’s doubleheader against Illinois College will mark the final home game for Glasgow, Greg Kloepping, Kenny Spranger, Mike Roehm and C.J. Hollingsworth from the men’s team (7-13, 6-8) and Yerkey and Tracy Nelson from the women’s squad (5-16, 5-9). The men tip off at 5 p.m. with the women’s game to follow. Saturday at Knox College will be the overall finale, as the women battle the Prairie Fire at 2 p.m. and the men play afterward.

With two games to go, the men could actually extend their season to the MWC playoffs in De Pere, Wis. The Scots need to win out and receive a little help to join Illinois College, Ripon and host St. Norbert at the four-team event. Extra games would benefit both Glasgow and Kloepping, who are in the hunt for career milestones. Glasgow, who recently became the 18th member of Monmouth’s 1,000-point club, has scored 1,119 points in his career and is currently ranked 11th all-time. With seven points, he will pass another GHS star, Scott Shaver, to take over the No. 10 slot, and with 17 points, he’ll move past Jim Thornton into ninth place.

“His numbers speak for themself,” said head coach Terry Glasgow of his son. “I’ve had the vicarious experience of watching his college career, much more so than I was able to when he was in high school. I want to separate the personal from the professional and say this without gushing, but I think he’s had a career that’s been very satisfying and enjoyable.”

Kloepping is currently 20th on the scoring list, and what would be a nice feather in his collegiate cap is to join Glasgow in the 1,000-point club. He enters the final two regular season games with 966 points.

“Greg is one of the finest shooters to ever the red and white uniform,” said Glasgow. “He is hard-working and reliable, and I think so much of him that I have asked him to be my assistant coach next season as he finishes up his degree.”

Both Kloepping and Glasgow are among the purest shooters the Scots have ever had. Kloepping, who will finish his career second on the all-time three-point shooting list behind Lance Castle, is also ranked second in career free throw percentage (82.9), while Glasgow is sixth on that list at 80.4.

Glasgow is also ranked in the top five in Monmouth history in steals, assists and double-figure games. He enters the final two games of his career with 108 steals, 256 assists and 54 double-figure games in 84 appearances.

Spranger, who has been at Monmouth just two seasons, has scored 701 points. Although the transfer from Black Hawk will not play enough games at MC to set any career marks, he does own the single-season steal record (50), and he is among the leaders in every individual category but three-point shooting in the MWC. Spranger’s 39 points against Grinnell last Wednesday - which included a 30-point explosion in the first half - is tied for the seventh-best single-game scoring performance in Monmouth history.

“Kenny’s a tremendous offensive talent,” said Glasgow. “He can shoot it and take it to the basket. I shudder to think where we’d be without him.

“C.J. and Mike, of all the kids we’ve had here, are two of the most coachable kids I’ve had,” continued Glasgow. “Even in tough times, they’ve received coaching very well. They’ve never complained, and they’ve never given up. C.J. summed up his career by saying to me, ‘I’ve always played hard, but not always well.’”

Roehm has scored 245 points in his four years at Monmouth and Hollingsworth has 159.

On the women’s side, both Yerkey and Nelson transferred to Monmouth from Parkland Community College, so they, too, will not approach any career marks. Yerkey, who has dished out 81 assists this season and is the team’s second-leading scorer at 11.2 ppg, has 396 points at Monmouth, and Nelson has scored 237.

“Tracy’s brought a lot of athleticism and strength to our team,” said Mann, who is currently 98-122 in his 10th year with the Scots. “She has tremendous leaping ability and has shown an ability to rebound and score against larger people. She’s a competitor. Carrie has served as a team captain and has really improved in her role as floor leader. I wish we could have had them both all four years.

“We’d like to finish up strong,” Mann concluded. “IC has beaten some top teams, and we always seem to have close games with them. It’s going to be Senior Day at Knox on Saturday, so that will be a tough atmosphere, too. They’ll both be very tough games.”

Men's Basketball  |  Women's Basketball