Mental toughness leads Spartans to IHSA Regional Championship
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
One set of statistics helps to paint the most accurate picture of the St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball team this season.
Ten squad members have led the team in scoring at least once. All 10 have also had games where they didn’t score a point.
“All season we’ve had girls step up,” SJ-O coach Kevin Taylor said. “It’s a credit to the girls for hanging tough.”
Thursday night was no exception.
The school captured its third successive girls’ basketball regional title on Thursday on its home court, topping Villa Grove/Heritage 50-34.
“Our defense was good all night and we had a stretch late in the third quarter where we had a good run,” Taylor said.
The Spartans led at halftime 24-18, but fell behind 27-26 before recovering.
The comeback began, Taylor said, “when we played hard and controlled the boards.”
SJ-O reaped the benefits from lessons learned during a late-season four-game losing streak.
“We were in most of those games, but lost focus and it cost us,” Taylor said. “In the postseason, we’ve done a great job of staying mentally tough.”
The Spartans’ score sheet looked different in the regional finals than it did in the semifinals.
On Thursday, Katie Cramer scored a team-high 12 points and Abby Behrens added nine points, including four fourth-quarter free throws. Payton Vallee also hit nine points.
In the semifinals, none of those three players scored. The top two SJ-O scorers in the semis, Ella Armstrong and Hannah Dukeman, were scoreless on Thursday.
The SJ-O defense held VG/H scoring leader Aliya Holloman to nine points, just the fourth game this season she didn’t hit double figures.
Payton Jacob was the primary defender on Holloman, with help from Dukeman.
“We wanted to keep her off the three-point line,” Taylor said, “and when she came off screens, we jumped out and helped.
“I’m happy for the girls. There were stretches they had to grind it out, but they have hung in there all year.”
SJ-O (21-10) returns to action on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the sectional semifinals at Paris against either the host school (which is undefeated and top-ranked in Class 2A) or Sullivan. Their regional championship game will be played tonight in Sullivan.
“It will definitely be tough, but we will prepare the best we can and go give it our best shot,” Taylor said.
VG/Heritage ends with a 25-6 season record.
Taylor enjoyed the enthusiastic crowd which helped fill the stands on Thursday for the Spartans’ final home game of the year.
“There were a lot of fans and we appreciated the support,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to be at home where you are more familiar with everything.”
SJ-O’s regional crown was its fifth in girls’ basketball in the last eight years.
