February 27, 2026 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

10 things you don’t know about me…the SJO girls basketball team

After this weekend, Maclayne Taylor will have 12 state medals and has been apart of five team state trophies. 

Hannah Dukeman has committed to play softball at Ball State.

Peyton Crowe has committed to play basketball at Parkland.

This is Bree Trimble’s second trip to Redbird Arena to play in the state tournament in her high school career. She was a sophomore starter on the 2016 volleyball team that placed second in state.

Payton Vallee plays on Primetime 16 Blue- a travel volleyball team. She played eight volleyball games last weekend in St. Louis and, after playing two games Monday morning, came home and then got on the bus to Pontiac to play basketball.

Coach Kevin Taylor is a school board member and is up for reelection in April.

Lots of the girls play multiple sports. Vallee, Taylor, Ashlyn Lannert, Abby Behrens and Anna Wentzloff are on the track team. Dukeman plays softball and Trimble played volleyball. (Just to name a few.)

. According to Senior Erinn Miller, the locker room before games is a lot of fun “We all just dance and jump around getting hype before games and the energy before going out to play is like nothing else. “

Taylor Barnes, Hannah Dukeman and Payton Jacob said their favorite memory from the season was winning the sectional championship and seeing their coach, Kevin Taylor, dance in the locker room.

The team has a 3.66 average GPA out of a 4.0 scale.

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