Georgetown-Ridge Farm rallied in the final quarter on Saturday to eliminate Villa Grove in a first-round Class 1A regional tournament girls’ basketball game in Georgetown.

Villa Grove took a 26-25 lead into the final stanza, but fell short, 40-35.

Kaylee Arbuckle led the Blue Devils with 13 points. Emma Buesing added 12 points and Jobella Crafton finished with six points.

Villa Grove led, 11-9, after one quarter, but trailed, 16-13, at halftime.

The Blue Devils end the season with a 4-22 record. Three of the losses were by forfeit due to COVID-19 issues.

Six players led the team in scoring in at least one game.

Arbuckle led in 10 games. Buesing led in nine games. Jobella Crafton, Stutz and Ava Vollmer each led twice. Vanessa Wright led in one game.

Buesing and Arbuckle waged a season-long battle for team three-point supremacy. Buesing held a slight edge, sinking 30 three-pointers compared to 27 for Arbuckle.

Both players hit more than half of their total baskets from three-point range. Buesing made 62.5 percent of her baskets from beyond the arc. Arbuckle hit 57.4 percent of her total baskets from three-point range.

Freshman Jobella Crafton was the most adapt at getting to the free throw line. She attempted 55 charity shots. Arbuckle was next with 29 free throw attempts.

The highest accuracy rate from the line belonged to Wright, who was limited to five games. She bagged 11 of 12 free throws, 91.7 percent.

The team’s top scorers were Arbuckle (7.5 scoring average), Wright (6.8 average) and Buesing (6.2 average).

The team’s seniors were Arbuckle, Jobeth Crafton, Andi Patton, Hailey Stutz, Vollmer and Wright.

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The Villa Grove boys’ basketball team finished the week with back-to-back wins.

The Blue Devils lost at home to Decatur Lutheran, 72-39, on Tuesday (Feb. 8) before knocking off Blue Ridge in Farmer City, 71-32, on Thursday (Feb. 10) and Argenta-Oreana at home, 71-68, on Friday (Feb. 11).

Ashton Harrison hit 11 points and Brady Clodfelder had seven against Decatur Lutheran.

Villa Grove was within 43-29 at halftime, but managed just 10 second-half points.

Against Blue Ridge, Layne Rund tossed in 14 points. Clodfelder added nine points and Harrison meshed eight.

The Blue Devils built a 39-16 lead at intermission.

Luke Zimmerman cleared a team-high five rebounds.

Against Argenta-Oreana, Harrison put up 15 points and was backed by Peyton Smith (13 points), Clodfelder (12 points) and Rund (12 points).

Villa Grove held a slender 37-36 lead at halftime. The teams were deadlocked, 55-55, after three quarters.

Clodfelder cleared a team-high nine rebounds. Fancher and Smith each grabbed seven rebounds.

Villa Grove (7-19) returns to action on Tuesday (Feb. 15) at Okaw Valley.

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The Villa Grove girls’ basketball team, which has won three of its last six games, handed visiting Argenta-Oreana a 33-23 setback on Wednesday (Feb. 9).

A-O led, 7-4, after one quarter, but Emma Buesing tallied eight of her team-high 12 points in the second stanza as the Blue Devils took control by halftime, 19-7.

Kaylee Arbuckle collected nine points and Jobella Crafton finished with eight points.

On Monday (Feb. 7), Okaw Valley dealt the Blue Devils a 48-32 loss.

Arbuckle’s 10 points led the team. Crafton netted eight points and Madison Logan added four points.

Villa Grove (4-21) finishes up the regular season on Thursday (Feb 10) at Cerro Gordo/Bement and then opens Class 1A regional tournament play on Saturday (Feb. 12) at Georgetown-Ridge Farm against an opponent it edged by two points on Jan 25.

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Emma Buesing scored 11 points on Monday (Jan. 31), but the Villa Grove girls’ basketball team had its two-game winning streak snapped at home by Decatur Lutheran, 48-35.

Kaylee Arbuckle netted 10 points and Hailey Stutz made five points.

On Tuesday (Feb. 1), Villa Grove suffered a 57-12 loss at Tuscola.

Stutz scored four points. Finishing with three points apiece were Jobella Crafton and Jada Chandler.

Villa Grove (3-20) returns to action on Monday (Feb. 7) at Okaw Valley.

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The Villa Grove boys’ basketball team won its second consecutive game on Tuesday (Feb. 1), dispatching visiting Heritage 64-49.

The two schools combined to make 21 of their 40 field goals from three-point range.

The game’s top scorer was Villa Grove sophomore Layne Rund, who threw down a season-high 32 points. He bagged nine three-pointers.

Teammate Robert Fancher tallied 11 points, including three three-pointers. Peyton Smith hit nine points to go with five rebounds.

The Blue Devils carved a 26-16 lead after one quarter and held a 47-24 margin at halftime.

Villa Grove finished play in the Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament on Saturday (Jan. 29) with a flourish.

The Blue Devils had their third-best scoring output of the season and overpowered Blue Ridge, 63-26, in the ninth-place game at Cerro Gordo.

Ashton Harrison converted three three-pointers on the way to a team-high 11 points. Rund totaled nine points and Luke Zimmerman made six.

Brayden Dowler pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Brady Clodfelder grabbed six rebounds.

VG led, 20-7, after one period and 36-18 at halftime.

In earlier tournament action, the Blue Devils were beaten by Argenta-Oreana, 73-59, on Friday (Jan. 21) and by Tri-County, 42-36, on Tuesday (Jan. 25). Also, on Thursday (Jan. 20), the Blue Devils lost a makeup game at Toledo Cumberland, 44-29.

Against Tri-County, Rund netted 12 points. Smith ended with seven points and 10 rebounds. Clodfelder collected four rebounds.

Tri-County led, 11-10, after one quarter and 21-18 at halftime.

Against Cumberland, Lukas Shadwick nailed three three-pointers on the way to a season-high nine points. Zimmerman had six points and six rebounds. Rund added five points and four rebounds. Smith also had four rebounds.

Villa Grove (5-18) returns to action on Friday (Feb. 4) at Blue Ridge.

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Kaylee Arbuckle matched her season’s high with 13 points on Thursday (Jan. 27) as Villa Grove won its second consecutive game, dispatching Blue Ridge, 31-20, in a girls’ basketball game in Farmer City.

Villa Grove trailed, 14-13, at halftime but shot into a 21-16 lead after the third quarter. Arbuckle tossed in four of her points in the third quarter.

Emma Buesing added eight points for the Blue Devils.

Villa Grove (3-18) returns to action on Monday (Jan. 31) at home against Decatur Lutheran.

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Kaylee Arbuckle hit a season-high four three-point shots – one in each quarter – to lead the Villa Grove girls’ basketball team to a 29-27 victory at home on Tuesday (Jan. 25) against Georgetown-Ridge Farm.

Arbuckle led the Blue Devils with 12 points. Hailey Stutz made a season-high 12 points. Emma Buesing contributed six points. The rest of the VG points came from Jada Chandler (two points) and Jobella Crafton (one point).

The Blue Devils led, 11-6, after one quarter, 17-16 at halftime and 22-19 after three quarters. The visiting Buffaloes rallied to pull into a 27-27 tie in the final minute.

The tie was broken by Stutz’s final basket, which – combined with stellar defense in the last half-minute – accounted for the victory.

Villa Grove (2-18) returns to action on Thursday (Jan. 27) at Blue Ridge.

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Villa Grove dropped its final three games at the Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament at Cerro Gordo and finished in eighth place.

On Monday (Jan. 17), Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond topped the Blue Devils, 56-16.

Hailey Stutz led Villa Grove with five points. Kaylee Arbuckle hit four points and Emma Buesing added three points.

On Thursday (Jan. 20), Arcola defeated the Blue Devils, 49-10. Arbuckle tallied six points. Stutz and Jobella Crafton each hit two points.

On Friday (Jan. 21), in the seventh-place game, Decatur Lutheran posted a 47-18 win over VG.

Jobella Crafton led the Blue Devils with seven points. Madison Logan and Jobeth Crafton each made four points.

The Blue Devils (1-18) return to action on Tuesday (Jan. 25) at home against Georgetown-Ridge Farm.

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Villa Grove suffered a 56-16 loss to Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond on Monday (Jan. 17) in a Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament game at Cerro Gordo.

The Blue Devils (1-16) play Arcola on Thursday (Jan. 20) in a consolation bracket tournament game.

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Villa Grove’s girls’ basketball team picked up its first victory on Saturday (Jan. 15) when its first opponent in the Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament – Argenta-Oreana – was obliged to forfeit due to COVID-19 issues.

On Thursday (Jan. 13), Kaylee Arbuckle and Emma Buesing each scored nine points – all from beyond the three-point arc – but the Blue Devils dropped a 45-26 decision at home to Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond.

Vanessa Wright added eight points for Villa Grove, who outscored A-L/A-H 20-19 in the second half.

Villa Grove (0-12 on the court and 1-15 overall) returns to action in the Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament. The Blue Devils face a rematch with A-L/A-H at 6 p.m. on Monday (Jan. 17) at Cerro Gordo.

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