Martinie, Brooks lead SJO girls’ basketball past Rantoul

When the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball team is making three-pointers at a high rate, watch out.
The latest example of the Spartans connecting from beyond the three-point line happened Monday night, with SJO cruising to a 68-25 win at Rantoul in Illini Prairie Conference play.

The Spartans made more three-pointers (14) than two-pointers (10) during their latest Illini Prairie win that ended a two-game losing streak.

Senior Addy Martinie and sophomore Addison Brooks led the charge against Rantoul, with Martinie scoring a game-high 19 points and Brooks not far behind with 17 points. The main part of their offensive outburst? Three-pointers, with Martinie and Brooks each draining five shots from beyond the arc.
That helped the Spartans take a 26-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 31-15 advantage into halftime before SJO carried a 55-23 lead into the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Timera Blackburn-Kelley added nine points, while senior Addison Frick and sophomore Kayla Ostebur each chipped in seven points. Junior Sara Kearney (four points), sophomore Katie Ericksen (three points) and sophomore Mackenzie Loschen (two points) rounded out the scoring for SJO.

The win at Rantoul came after SJO lost 56-49 to Olympia this past Saturday in the Illini Prairie-Sangamo Challenge in Pleasant Plains and after a 77-52 home loss to Bloomington Central Catholic last Thursday night in St. Joseph.

SJO led Olympia 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, but trailed 28-17 at halftime and 43-28 to start the fourth quarter before cutting its deficit to single digits again late.

Brooks and Blackburn-Kelley each scored 11 points to lead the Spartans’ offense, with Brooks making a trio of three-pointers and Blackburn-Kelley making two three-pointers. All told, the Spartans made 11 three-pointers against Olympia.

Frick joined Brooks and Blackburn-Kelley in double figures with 10 points, while Martinie added nine points and Ericksen contributed seven points. Osterbur chipped in one point.

SJO kept it close in the first half against Bloomington Central Catholic before sustaining its first Illini Prairie loss, with SJO trailing 14-12 at the end of the first quarter and 31-26 at halftime. The Saints, however, broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring SJO 26-10 to go up 57-36 before the fourth quarter arrived.

Frick poured in a game-high 23 points for the Spartans on the strength of five three-pointers, but was the only SJO player in double figures. Martinie added nine points, Erickson and Blackburn-Kelley each finished with seven points and Brooks tossed in six points.

SJO (13-10, 6-1 Illini Prairie) will find out its postseason seed in the upcoming Class 2A postseason on Thursday, the same day the Spartans host Illini Prairie rival Unity at 7 p.m. Postseason pairings will come out Friday, with SJO either in the Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin Regional or the Clifton Central Regional. Those two regional sites feed into the Iroquois West Sectional that SJO is a part of this season.

After Thursday night’s home game with Unity, the Spartans are scheduled to return to the court at 7 p.m. next Monday with a home Illini Prairie game against Paxton-Buckley-Loda.