The Blue Devils took down the 2019 Class 1A state champions in a semifinal regional game on Tuesday at St. Joseph.

VG/H ousted Schlarman Academy (17-7) in a Class 2A regional semifinal game 57-49.

Kyleigh Block nailed three first-quarter three-point shots, helping VG/H take a 17-14 lead after eight minutes.

Aliya Holloman tallied a game-high 27 points, leading the Blue Devils in scoring for the 12th time in the last 14 games.

Block ended with 19 points.

Madie Burwell and Samantha Campbell each netted five points.

The Blue Devils connected on 15 of 21 free throws.

VG/H (25-5) carries a seven-game winning streak into tonight’s 7 o’clock regional championship game against the host SJ-O Spartans, whom it lost to by three points in the season’s third game in November.

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The past and the future of Oakwood girls’ basketball came together nearly a decade ago.

A promising young player, Katelyn Young, was getting her start in organized basketball as a grade-schooler. One of her coaches was the former Stacie Calhoun, who set Oakwood’s all-time scoring record – for boys or girls – before graduating in 1985.

“She told my parents when I was in grade school that I could score that many points,” Young said.

That many points was a lot, 2,314 to be exact.

To reach that plateau, a player would need to be a four-year varsity regular and average more than 19 points a game throughout her prep career.

Turns out Calhoun was not just a good scorer. She was also a good prognosticator.

In her 119th varsity game on Friday, Young replaced Calhoun atop the all-time Oakwood basketball scoring list.

Her record-setting point came on a basket with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left in a Vermilion Valley Conference game at Danville Schlarman.

 By game’s end, Young had added five more points to her total, finishing with 26 and extending her career record to 2,320 points.

“I didn’t know that (basket) was the one,” Young said.

It wasn’t long, however, before she realized it.

The game was stopped moments later and the Comets’ senior was presented the game ball.

It will join two other balls she has, one for reaching 1,000 points as a sophomore and the other for hitting the 2,000-point mark in the team’s 13th game this season.

When she entered high school, Young didn’t think much about the prediction made by her former youth coach.

“Not at all,” she said. “I didn’t think I would score a thousand.”

Schlarman won Friday’s game 56-51 to clinch its sixth consecutive Vermilion Valley Conference championship.

Oakwood coach Stephanie Marsh wasn’t surprised that Young has achieved at a high level.

“As a freshman, she made an impact on our program,” said Marsh, who didn’t reveal to Young how close she was to the mark entering the regular-season finale.

“She had her focus on playing the game and didn’t want to know the exact number,” Marsh said. “That’s just one more thing to worry about.”

Young has remained an effective scorer as a senior even though her role on the team has changed as she helps Aubrey Wells get the ball up-court.

Beyond that, Marsh said, “she has stepped up as far as being a leader.

“She’s a great kid to have on the team. I can count on her to help with the younger kids.”

Young has maintained a 19.5 scoring average during her Oakwood years and has hit the 20-point mark as a senior in 20 of her 27 games.

She is well-known as the team’s top-scoring option.

“When you’re double- or triple-teamed you have to get creative on what to do to score and get other teammates open,” Young said.

Young has it on good authority that Oakwood’s former career scoring leader is fine with her newfound hold on the top spot after Calhoun held it for 35 years.

“Her daughter (Hayley Mascari) is in my grade and told me her mom wanted me to beat her record,” Young said.

In Friday’s game, Oakwood held a 29-22 halftime lead, but was outscored 19-9 in the third quarter.

Karsen Rupp scored 10 points and Addie Wright had nine for the Comets. Young hit 14 of her points in the first half.

The Comets (22-7) return to action tonight at 7:30 in a first-round Class 2A regional tournament game at Maroa-Forsyth against Westville.

During Young’s varsity career, Oakwood has amassed 98 wins. Young is looking to add to that total.

“If we play our game,” she said, “we’ll have a pretty good chance.”

The post Young becomes Oakwood’s All-Time Leading Scorer first appeared on SJO Daily.

Senior Katelyn Young scored all of her game-high 27 points in the first half on Monday as the Comets dispatched visiting Georgetown-Ridge Farm 54-11 in a Senior Night Vermilion Valley Conference game.

Young hit 17 points in the opening quarter as Oakwood opened up a 25-5 lead.

The Comets’ other double-figure scorer against the Buffaloes was the team’s other senior. Aubrey Wells put up 10 points in her final home game.

Oakwood led 44-9 at halftime and allowed just two second-half points.

Monday’s game marked the 10th one this season that the opponent scored fewer than 20 points.

Young’s career point total stands at 2,298. The senior is 17 points away from breaking the school’s 35-year-old career scoring mark. Stacie Calhoun tallied 2,314 points before graduating in 1985.

Young has scored at least 20 points in 19 of the 26 games in which she has played this season. Her season average is 22.9 points per game.

The Comets (22-6) have won seven of their last eight games. The team returns to action tonight in its regular-season finale at Danville Schlarman. Oakwood is 10-2 in conference games.

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St. Joseph-Ogden’s boys’ basketball team capped a perfect first week by winning all five games by double-digit margins and capturing the team title in the 31st Toyota of Danville Classic.

On Friday, the Spartans handed Cissna Park its lone loss of the week, 65-49 before winning twice on Saturday, 74-39 over Schlarman Academy and 59-49 against Watseka.

Tournament most valuable player Chance Izard led the way.

The SJ-O senior tallied 93 points for the week, 49 of those coming on Saturday.

He lit up the scoreboard with 25 points against Schlarman and notched 24 against Watseka in the evening game.

In the Friday win over Cissna Park, Izard tossed in 18 points. He hit at least one three-point shot in each of the team’s five games last week.

Ty Pence posted his first varsity double-double against the Timberwolves. The freshman had 14 points and cleared a team-high 12 rebounds.

SJ-O led CP 13-11 after one quarter, but pulled into a 31-26 cushion at halftime.

Drew Coursey downed 10 points and Lukas Hutcherson hit nine against CP. Payton Cain and Conner Hodge each cleared five rebounds.

Cain, who was SJ-O’s second all-tournament pick, contributed 12 points against Schlarman.

In less than a 2 ½-minute span, which stretched into the early stages of the third period, the Spartans used an 18-0 run to move into an insurmountable 45-22 lead against the Hilltoppers.

Coursey claimed a team-high five rebounds. Braydon Rupert was next with four rebounds.

Pence and Izard made sure to keep distance from Watseka in the final game. They combined for 17 of the team’s 19 fourth-period points, nine by Pence who ended with a career-high 17 points.

For the week, Pence was 9-for-9 from the free throw line.

The team’s balance was shown by the statistical distributions. In five games, five different players led the team in rebounding.

“I like the way our guys competed throughout the tournament,” SJ-O coach Kiel Duval said. “We played hard. We are starting to become more together each game.

“The biggest thing is they are carrying over good habits from practice that are necessary to be successful in varsity games. There are areas that need to be cleaned up, but that is what this week of practice is for.

“We will breakdown film and rep those deficiencies. The players know how good our schedule is and how every night is going to be a battle. The little things really matter in games like that.”

SJ-O (5-0) returns to action with back-to-back home games to end the week, Friday against Rantoul and Saturday against Tri-Valley.

2019 All-Tournament Team:
Emmanuel Garcia Camilo, Notre Dame de La Salette
Jamal Taylor, Schlarman Academy
Conner Curry, Watseka
Cale Steinbaugh, Georgetown, Ridge Farm
Ian Rogers, Cissna Park
Payton Cain, St. Joseph-Ogden

All-Tournament Team MVP:
Chance Izard, St. Joseph-Ogden

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