SJO girls’ basketball wins regional title

In a season full of notable moments, the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ basketball team added to its list of accomplishments on Thursday night.

The Spartans soundly defeated Salt Fork 61-37 in Tolono to win the Class 2A Unity Regional title, the program’s second straight regional championship and 16th in program history.

“I am just happy for the girls for winning the regional,” SJO coach Kevin Taylor said. “It is always tough getting wins in the postseason, and the team has played really well so far.”

Balanced scoring and stout defense led SJO in its 12th consecutive win, a streak that dates back to late December.

Like she has done for the majority of the season, Bree Trimble dropped in a game-high 16 points to pace the Spartans (25-4). But she wasn’t the only SJO player to get in on the scoring action. Hannah Dukeman drained four three-pointers, including one just before halftime that she made just inside the half-court line, and finished with 12 points. Payton Jacob also contributed significantly with 11 points, including five in the first quarter to help SJO stake itself to a 21-9 lead.

“We were focused and ready for the game,” Taylor said. “We did not want to start slow.”

SJO held a 34-22 lead at halftime before increasing its defensive pressure in the third quarter, limiting Salt Fork to only four points as the Spartans went ahead 48-26 to start the fourth quarter.

Maclayne Taylor (six points), Peyton Crowe (five points), Katie Cramer (five points), Angela Palmer (two points), Ella Armstrong (two points) and Payton Vallee (two points) rounded out the scoring for SJO.
For seniors like Trimble, Crowe, Taylor, Palmer and Erinn Miller, Thursday’s win offered up another highlight of their SJO careers. Now, the Spartans will try to keep their season going when they travel to Gibson City on Monday for a 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal game against host GCMS (24-5).

“Our seniors have been great this year,” Kevin Taylor said. “It has been fun watching them grow as players and leaders this season. They have worked hard over the years to be in this situation, and it is really nice to see their hard work paying off.”

In boys’ basketball
St. Joseph-Ogden High School’s boys’ basketball team went on the road for a lengthy trip to Chillicothe on Friday. And they left with an Illini Prairie Conference win, knocking off Chillicothe Illinois Valley Central 58-31 and setting up a showdown with Bloomington Central Catholic next Friday night for the IPC regular-season title.

The win against the Grey Ghosts came after the Spartans handled Olympia in a 66-41 home win on Wednesday night.

SJO (18-7, 8-0 IPC) has a quick turnaround, tipping off against Peoria Quest at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Riverton Shootout as the Spartans try to extend their win streak to 10 games.

SJO made it nine wins in a row with tough defense and solid offense against Chillicothe IVC. SJO turned a close first half into a rout in the second half after the Spartans led 10-5 at the end of the first quarter and 21-14 at halftime.

SJO went on a 13-2 run during a five-minute stretch in the third quarter to expand its lead to 36-18 late in the third quarter before holding a comfortable 50-23 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Jack Cook finished with a game-high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to complete a double-double for SJO. Chance Izard also reached double figures with 11 points, while Payton Cain (nine points), Joel Orcutt (seven points, eight rebounds) also chipped in. Keanen Swanson (five points), Payton Grimsley (two points), Jaden Miller (two points) and Braydon Rupert (two points) rounded out the scoring for SJO.

In the win against Olympia, SJO started strong, building an 18-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and enjoyed a 48-23 halftime lead before taking a 64-34 lead into the fourth quarter. Three SJO players wound up in double figures, with Orcutt scoring a game-high 21 points, Izard connecting for 19 points and Cook adding 14 points.

Cain (five points), Rupert (three points), Swanson (two points) and Conner Hodge (two points) also dotted the scorebook for SJO.

The Spartans also found out their postseason path on Friday when the Illinois High School Associated released its playoff pairings. SJO received a No. 1 seed and will play either No. 7 Tuscola or No. 10 Georgetown-Ridge Farm at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19 in a Class 2A Heritage Regional semifinal game. Unity, the fourth seed, will play either No. 6 Villa Grove/Heritage or No. 12 Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20 in the other regional semifinal game. The regional championship game is set for 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22, with the winner advancing to the Unity Sectional.

In wrestling
All six St. Joseph-Ogden High School wrestlers that reached the Class 1A Carterville Sectional won their first matches on Friday night.

And that meant spots in Saturday’s semifinals for three of them, with a shot at a sectional championship still intact.

Jake Wendling followed up his regional title at 120 pounds with an 8-4 decision against Cutter Prater of Vandalia in the quarterfinals. Wendling advanced to square off against Dayton Hall of Mt. Carmel in the semifinals.

A.J. Wagner at 106 won two matches on Friday to reach Saturday’s semifinals. Wagner started off his sectional meet with a 7-2 decision against Aaron Niemeyer of East Alton-Wood River before securing a 7-3 decision against Seth Padavic of Benton in the quarterfinals. Wagner is set to tangle with Matthew Minick of Belleville Althoff in the semifinals.

Isaiah Immke at 132 also won both of his matches on Friday. Immke began his sectional stay with a pin of Robinson’s Josh Hatfield in only 1 minute, 16 seconds before Immke followed up with another pin against Clayton Ramage of Anna-Jonesboro in 5:02 in the quarterfinals. These wins allowed Immke to move into the semifinals, where he’ll meet Anthony Federico from Belleville Althoff.

If Wendling, Wagner and Immke win their semifinal matches, they’ll clinch a spot at the state meet as the top four finishers in each weight class qualify for state.

The other three SJO wrestlers at the sectional meet — Isaiah Moore at 113, Peyton Holt at 138 and Brodie Sullivan at 170 —have to reach the third-place match in their respective brackets if they are to keep their seasons going.

Moore beat Landon Shonk of Robinson by pin in 2:38 during his first-round match before losing by a 16-1 technical fall to Shawn Minick of Belleville Althoff in the quarterfinals. Moore didn’t that loss deter him, though, as he pinned Jake Egelhoff of Carlinville in only 38 seconds during Moore’s first wrestleback match. Moore is now set to face off against Aiden York of Monticello in a consolation quarterfinal match.

Holt beat Zack Stephenson of Vandalia by an 8-5 decision in the first round, but lost a close 6-4 decision to Matt Jones of Carterville in the quarterfinals. Moore responded, though, with a 5-2 decision against Barry Johnson of Anna-Jonesboro and will now wrestle Austin McConaha of Monticello in a consolation quarterfinal match.

Sullivan defeated Bryce Lingle of Anna-Jonesboro by pin in 2:40 in the first round, but lost by pin in 2:50 to Chris Shelby of Mt. Carmel in the quarterfinals. Sullivan is slated to face Kade Warner of Cumberland in his first wrestleback match.

Any state qualifiers that SJO has will start the state meet next Thursday at State Farm Center in Champaign, with the state meet also set for Friday before it concludes next Saturday night with state championship matches.