The regional drought continues for Villa Grove/Heritage.

The Blue Devils dropped a 50-34 decision to St. Joseph-Ogden in Thursday’s Class 2A girls’ basketball regional finals on the Spartans’ court.

The last regional crown for a Villa Grove girls’ basketball team came in 1999. For Heritage, the most-recent regional title was claimed in 2004.

Kyleigh Block scored a team-high 14 points for the Blue Devils. Aliya Holloman had nine points and Samantha Campbell totaled six points.

“We didn’t finish plays that we normally did all year,” VG/H coach Dan Sappenfield said. “We couldn’t find that offensive rhythm.”

VG/H trailed 24-18 at halftime, but rallied and took a 27-26 third-quarter lead.

Sappenfield prefers to look at the positives of the season as he reflects. The 25 wins are the most ever for a girls’ basketball team from Villa Grove.

“Twenty-two was the most before,” Sappenfield said. “It was an awesome season with a cohesive group that was connected all year.”

VG/H finished 8 of 15 from the free-throw line against the Spartans and was held to six second-half field goals.

Holloman and Jordyn Ray are the lone graduating seniors.

“Those two left it better than they found it, and that’s all you can ask,” Sappenfield said. “We have a nice nucleus back, but we will miss them a ton.”

VG/H (25-6) had its second seven-game winning streak ended in the regional finals by SJ-O (21-10).

In the pre-game individual three-point shooting contest, Block drained 11 of 15 attempts and was one of four athletes to advance to next week’s Paris Sectional. The other three qualifiers were from Clinton.

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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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BY FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Senior Aliya Holloman scored 20 of her season-high 33 points in the opening quarter Thursday night as the Blue Devils blitzed Argenta-Oreana 80-34 on Senior Night at Villa Grove.

Villa Grove/Heritage led 37-0 after the opening eight minutes.

The team’s other senior, Jordyn Ray, scored nine points in her final home game.

Kyleigh Block tallied 16 points and Samantha Campbell added 10 for the Blue Devils, who enter the postseason with a six-game winning streak.

A-O was limited to three first-half field goals.

VG/H ended 8-1 in Lincoln Prairie Conference games, second only to Tri-County, which was 9-0.

The Blue Devils (23-5) return to action on Tuesday in the St.  Joseph-Ogden Class 2A regional. VG/H opens at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11 against the winner of a Monday game between Schlarman Academy and Georgetown-Ridge Farm.

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Aliya Holloman led the Blue Devils in scoring for the 20th time this season on Tuesday, firing in a team-high 26 points in a 65-20 triumph over Judah Christian in Champaign.

Holloman scored 12 points in the first quarter as VG/H opened up a 22-4 lead.

The Blue Devils allowed Judah just two second-half field goals.

Kyleigh Block scored 11 points, Vanessa Wright had 10 points and Samantha Campbell ended with nine points.

On Monday, Holloman tallied 29 points in a 63-33 romp at home over Toledo Cumberland.

Block contributed 15 points and Campbell totaled eight.

VG/H vaulted into an 18-7 lead after one quarter. Holloman netted 11 points in the opening frame and Block had five.

The Blue Devils (23-5) return to action tonight in their Senior Night home finale against Argenta-Oreana. VG/H is 8-1 in Lincoln Prairie Conference action.

Holloman and Jordyn Ray are the seniors who will be honored before their final home game.

The team has five consecutive wins and victories in seven of its last eight contests.

VG/H will play next week in the St.  Joseph-Ogden Class 2A regional. VG/H opens at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11 against the winner of a Monday game between Schlarman Academy and Georgetown-Ridge Farm.

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Kyleigh Block hit for a game-high 22 points Thursday night as Villa Grove/Heritage won its third game in a row with a 61-46 triumph at Arcola.

Block netted eight of her points in the opening stanza as VG/H vaulted into a 17-6 lead.

Three teammates joined her in double figures. Samantha Campbell scored 12 points. Jordyn Ray had 11 points and Madie Burwell ended with 10 points.

The Blue Devils (21-5) return to action tonight at home against Toledo Cumberland.

VG/H was assigned to a Class 2A regional at St. Joseph-Ogden and will start postseason play on Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. against either Schlarman or Georgetown-Ridge Farm in the semifinals.

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Dan Sappenfield made his debut in coaching the way many others have gotten their starts.

He was a dutiful dad.

As his children started showing an interest in sports, he volunteered to help with the programs in which they were involved.

“T-ball, Little League and you progress up the line,” Sappenfield said.

He eventually spent a year coaching junior high girls’ basketball in Villa Grove and then served as the high school junior varsity coach for three seasons, starting in the fall of 2003. In Year 2, Sappenfield’s daughter Chelsea was a freshman and a member of the team.

When the former VG girls’ basketball head coach, Todd Shunk, resigned prior to Chelsea Sappenfield’s junior year, dad stepped in again.

“I thought I would stay a couple of years,” Dan Sappenfield said.

His tenure is still continuing. On Monday, the 14th-year head coach earned career win No. 200 when his Villa Grove/Heritage team posted a 70-21 triumph at home over Decatur Lutheran.

“Two hundred is another number,” he said, “but I won’t downplay it. Two hundred is a little different.”

On Saturday, when he had his first shot at the milestone, nearly three dozen former players were in the stands. Two days later, Sappenfield said there was still a “tremendous support group.”

One night after the 200th win was earned, his Blue Devils recorded another victory of significance.

In Tuesday’s 77-9 decision over Georgetown-Ridge Farm, VG/H reached the 20-win mark. Going back 30 years, this is the first time for Villa Grove to have back-to-back 20-win seasons in girls’ basketball. (Heritage girls’ basketball teams enjoyed consecutive 20-win seasons three times prior to the formation of the co-op).

“The wins are awesome, but what I enjoy is watching the kids excel in a way that maybe they didn’t know they had the ability to, and see how 12 to 15 kids can come together as a group,” Dan Sappenfield said.

“You have pieces to a puzzle that you have to use to make a perfect picture by the end of the year.”

Sappenfield is not one to keep track of his individual achievements.

Ask him about his first varsity victory and he said, “I don’t remember.”

Career win No. 100? The response is the same.

That’s not what he’s about.

“We want to make the experience as positive as we can for the kids and teach them to be good women, and strong,” Sappenfield said. “There’s pressure, but it’s good pressure.

“The kids know what they will get when they come into my program. They know we try to keep consistency as we build the program.”

The term “consistency” is not a misnomer.

“My practice plans look pretty similar to when I started,” Sappenfield said. “I have every practice plan and, in fact, our first three practices this year were the same as the first three my first year (2006-07).

“Don’t make it more complicated than you have to.”

The practice days that followed this season were somewhat different out of necessity.

“We’ve made some adjustments because our personnel the last couple of years has been so much more athletic,” he said.

Sappenfield doesn’t spend his days in a school building. He is part of the Boyer & Sappenfield Investment Advisors group, a job he has held for 29 years.

“Every day at 3:30, no matter what goes on during the day helping people with finances and the markets, coaching gives you a respite,” Sappenfield said.

His clients are understanding as the mid-afternoon hours draw near.

“I have amazing clients who know my love of the game,” Sappenfield said. “The first thing they will ask is, ‘How is the season going?’”

During his time on the sidelines, Sappenfield has made adjustments based on personnel, but he doesn’t alter much of his personal philosophy.

“I try to be as consistent and fair with the kids as I can,” he said. “For them, it’s not important how much you know. They want to see that you care.”

Sappenfield has been that person. For his first seven years as the head coach, the program consisted solely of Villa Grove athletes. The past seven have included students from Heritage as the co-op was implemented.

“The co-op brings in different personalities,” Sappenfield said, “and our job is to make it as cohesive as possible.”

Teen-agers who have been rivals previously now find themselves on the same side. Sappenfield knows what is possible based on the early years of the co-op.

Villa Grove’s Alix Ezell and Heritage’s Micaela Childress first got together as teammates.

“And now, they are still good friends,” Sappenfield said. “They never would have been friends without the co-op.”

Sappenfield’s original target of coaching a couple of years has been far exceeded, but the 54-year-old doesn’t see retirement in his near future, he said, “as long as I feel like I’m making an impact in kids’ lives.”

Some of his family members have told him to stay with the coaching. His daughter, Chelsea Williams, has two children, including a daughter who is in third grade.

Son Drew Sappenfield – who works in the family business – has a 4-year-old daughter.

“They’re telling me I have to hang on for them,” Sappenfield said.

Working in the family business includes more for Drew Sappenfield than his day job. He is also known as Coach Sappenfield. He works with the junior high boys’ basketball program in Villa Grove.

One of Dan Sappenfield’s personal highlights has nothing to do with any games that his teams have played.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have had great kids to work with,” Sappenfield said. “I’ve heard coaches talk about parents being an issue.

“My parents have been amazing. This wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have great parents, and the kids go with that.”

There’s one parent in particular that Sappenfield sees on occasion in the stands. None of her children have ever been a part of his VG/H program, but he listens when she speaks.

It’s his sister, Lisa Sappenfield Boyer.

“We talk a lot about basketball and what my team looks like,” Dan Sappenfield said.

There was a time, before the co-op with Heritage was formed, that the siblings couldn’t talk so freely. Boyer is a former Heritage girls’ basketball head coach.

Their teams played against each other, but Dan Sappenfield doesn’t believe either one ended with bragging rights.

“I think we split,” he said.

***

In games this week, the Blue Devils continued a season-long streak on Monday with their 70-21 win at home over Decatur Lutheran.

Every time VG/H has lost a game this season, it has followed up with a victory in the next game.

The team rebounded after suffering a loss on Saturday to Tri-County.

Kyleigh Block scored 19 points in the milestone win vs. Decatur Lutheran. Samantha Campbell and Aliya Holloman each ended with 11 points.

Block hit 10 of her points in the first quarter and Holloman added seven in the first eight minutes as VG/H zoomed into a 32-4 lead.

Decatur Lutheran managed just three first-half field goals as VG/H extended its lead to 53-8.

On Tuesday, in the victory over the Buffaloes, Holloman and Block each reached the 20-point mark together for the second time in a game this season.

Holloman tallied 26 points to sail past the 1,700-point mark for her career, and Block made 21 points as she eclipsed the 1,100-point plateau.

Campbell added 14 points.

Villa Grove/Heritage limited G-RF to two field goals in the game. The Blue Devils created a 36-2 lead after one quarter.

VG/H (20-5) returns to action tonight at Arcola.

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Aliya Holloman scored 16 points and Kyleigh Block added 12 on Saturday, but VG/H was unable to keep up with top-seeded Tri-County and suffered a 62-49 loss in the championship game of the Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament at Villa Grove.

The Titans led 16-12 after one quarter and 32-29 at halftime.

Jordyn Ray hit a season-high 11 points for VG/H,

Block and Holloman each made 16 points Thursday night as the Blue Devils overpowered Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond 57-39 in a semifinal tournament game at Villa Grove.

Madie Burwell matched her season’s high with 11 points.

Samantha Campbell contributed eight points.

The Blue Devils led 13-7 after one quarter and 29-19 at halftime.

VG/H (18-5) returns to action tonight at home against Decatur Lutheran.

The post VGH girls’ lose Lincoln Prairie Conference championship to Villa Grove first appeared on SJO Daily.

Samantha Campbell scored nine first-quarter points on Monday, staking the Blue Devils to an early 19-11 lead in a game they won at Cerro Gordo 67-41.

Aliya Holloman hit a team-high 28 points. Campbell put up 15 points, just shy of her season-high of 16.

Madie Burwell contributed 10 points and Jordyn Ray ended with eight points.

On Tuesday, the Blue Devils carved a 66-5 lead after three quarters at home en route to a non-conference home win over Chrisman, 80-20.

The point total was a season-high for VG/H. The win was the fifth in a row for the Blue Devils.

Holloman scored 17 first-quarter points, helping the team to a 37-point outburst during the opening eight minutes. Campbell and Kyleigh Block each netted eight points in the first quarter.

On the night she was honored for reaching the 1,000-point mark (which occurred in December), Block ended with 13 points.  Campbell tallied 10 points as did Vanessa Wright. Maci Clodfelder added eight points.

VG/H is 16-3 overall and returns to action tonight at Tri-County.

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For the fifth time this season, the Blue Devils on Tuesday held an opponent to fewer than 30 points in a game, overpowering Uni High 52-25 in Urbana.

Aliya Holloman scored 18 points and for the 11th time this season was the top VG/H point-maker. She was supported by Kyleigh Block and Samantha Campbell, each of whom tallied 14 points.

VG/H held the Illineks scoreless in the opening quarter while building a 14-0 lead.

Uni High managed just three second-half field goals.

Block scored six of her points in the opening quarter. Campbell and Holloman each had four points during the first-quarter blitz.

VG/H (14-3) has won its last three games and returns to action on Monday on the road against Cerro Gordo/Bement.

The post Holloman, Block and Campbell lead VGH over Urbana first appeared on SJO Daily.

The Blue Devils dropped a 56-52 non-conference at home on Tuesday to Unity.

Kyleigh Block and Aliya Holloman each scored 13 points to lead VG/H. Teammates Jordyn Ray (nine points), Samantha Campbell (eight points) and Madie Burwell (seven points) were also major contributors.

The Blue Devils were unable to overcome a 39-point outburst from Elyce Knudsen, who hit 13 of 16 field goal attempts, including 7 of 8 from three-point range. Knudsen made all six of her free throw attempts.

Knudsen scored 14 first-quarter points as the Rockets (8-2) carved a 17-8 lead.

VG/H (9-2) returns to action on Dec. 26 in the Bismarck-Henning Tournament.

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