By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph-Ogden was limited to three free throws in overtime – all made by Payton Jacob – and fell short of the seventh sectional championship in school history in girls’ basketball, 52-46, to Fieldcrest on Friday (Feb. 25) in the Peotone Class 2A Sectional.
SJ-O recovered from a 32-25 fourth-quarter deficit to create a 43-43 tie and force overtime against the Knights (33-2).
Ella Armstrong led the Spartans with 14 points. Taylor Wells netted 11 points. Jacob totaled seven points and Ashlyn Lannert contributed six points.
In the OT, SJ-O hit 3-of-6 free throws.
Fieldcrest snapped a seven-game Spartan winning streak. SJ-O ends the year with a 24-8 record.
Armstrong led – or shared – the team-lead in scoring in 15 games. Lannert set the pace in seven games. Peyton Jones led in six games, Wells in five games and Jacob in one.
Jones led the team in three-point conversions (53), followed by Armstrong (52) and Lannert (33).
Armstrong was the most accurate free throw shooter, connecting on 88.7 percent of her tries (63-of-71). She had four separate streaks during the year where she made at least 11 in a row.
The team’s other leading free throw shooters were Jacob (72.3 percent) and Jones (67.6 percent).
Armstrong led the squad in scoring (11.0). Four teammates averaged at least 6.9 points per game: Jones (8.6), Lannert (8.3), Wells (7.0) and Jacob (6.9).
Two other squad members had games where they scored in double figures: Addison Frick and Alyssa Hamilton.
The SJ-O seniors on Coach Drew Arteaga’s team were Armstrong, Abby Behrens, Hamilton, Jacob, Alison Kearney, Lannert and Wells.
