SJO girls’ basketball looks to bounce back against Tuscola

Playing the Paris girls’ basketball team is always a challenge, with the Tigers as one of the premier small-school programs in the area.

In fact, Paris is the last team to defeat St. Joseph-Ogden High School in a postseason game, with the Tigers defeating the Spartans 62-35 in a Class 2A sectional semifinal game in February 2020.

SJO narrowed its deficit against Paris in its latest meeting, but Paris ended up with a 50-41 win in St. Joseph on Nov. 23. It’s the first loss of the season for the Spartans (3-1), who will look to avoid a two-game losing skid when they host Tuscola at 7:30 p.m. on Monday in a nonconference game.

SJO fell behind early, trailing 17-4 at the end of the first quarter and 30-13 at halftime before cutting into Paris’ lead and taking a 34-23 deficit into the fourth quarter.

Ella Armstrong scored a team-high 16 points for SJO, with Payton Jacob contributing 13 points. Peyton Jones (five points), Ashlyn Lannert (three points), Taylor Wells (two points) and Addison Frick (two points) also dented the scoring column for SJO.

After Monday night’s home game with Tuscola, the Spartans return to the court at 7:30 p.m. at Danville in a nonconference game before staying on the road to end the week with a 2:30 p.m. nonconference game at Oakwood on Saturday.