Rockets end losing streak with six-point win over Blue Bullets

MORTON -- After back-to-back losses in the past week, the Unity basketball team survives a near loss to the Blue Bullets of Knoxville (15-5) to win 60-54 at the Morton Basketball Shootout on Saturday.

The Rockets' 12th win of the season was yet another nail-biting affair. The score was knotted at 25-all at the end of the first half after a productive 20-point quarter by Knoxville. Will Cowan and Thomas Henry drilled two threes apiece in the third quarter to help construct an 11-point Unity lead.

Despite a valiant effort by the Blue Bullets to rally back into the contest with four players reaching double figures, Unity was able to hold off the surge in the final quarter.

David Hise and Braden Downs led the Knox County team with 12 points each. Bryar Fleisher and Beau Honeycutt chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, Unity had three players turn in double-digit performances.

After a 19-point output against Paxton-Buckley-Loda less than 24 hours earlier, Blake Kimball scored 18 points to lead both rosters in the shootout game. Will Cowan found his stroke from beyond the arc, draining five treys and finishing with 17 points for the Rockets.

Starter Tristan Price hit a couple of three-pointers and went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line to finish with 10 points.

Unity (12-4), currently tied 5th in the Illini Prairie standings, will have a chance to polish their record a bit. Tuesday, the Rockets host St. Thomas More at the Rocket Center and take on the Eagles in Rantoul on Friday.

Box Score

Final: Unity 60 - Knoxville 54

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	1	2	3	4	OT	F
Unity	11	14	22	13	0	60
Knoxville	5	20	11	18	0	54

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Unity --
Kimball 6 (1) 3-5 -- 18, Cowan 1 (5) 0-0 -- 17, H. Thomas 0 (2) 1-2 -- 7, Rawdin 2 (0) 0-0 -- 4, Warfel 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Saunders 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Porter 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, O'Neil 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Price 1 (2) 2-2 -- 10, A. Thomas 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Langendorf 2 (0) 0-0 -- 4, Maxwell 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0

Knoxville --
Downs 3 (0) 6-6 -- 12, McClay 3 (0) 3-3 -- 9, Hise 4 (1) 1-2 -- 12, Wallace 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Fleisher 0 (3) 2-2 -- 11, Nolan 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Tuckey 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Curey 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Honeycutt 5 (0) 0-2 -- 10, Shreves 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Saulte 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Morris 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Bent 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Bentz 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0

Study finds breastfeeding reduces CVD risk in mothers

by American Heart Association

Women who breastfed for 12 months or longer during their lifetime appeared to be less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than women who did not breastfeed.

DALLAS -- Women who breastfed were less likely to develop heart disease or a stroke, or die from cardiovascular disease than women who did not breastfeed, according to a meta-analysis published today in a pregnancy spotlight issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

The special issue, JAHA Spotlight on Pregnancy and Its Impact on Maternal and Offspring Cardiovascular Health, includes about a dozen research articles exploring various cardiovascular considerations during pregnancy for mother and child.

The health benefits of breastfeeding for children are well known. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is linked with fewer respiratory infections and lower risk of death from infectious diseases among the children who were breastfed. Breastfeeding also has been linked to maternal health benefits, including lower risk for Type 2 diabetes, ovarian cancer and breast cancer.

"Previous studies have investigated the association between breastfeeding and the risk of cardiovascular disease in the mother; however, the findings were inconsistent on the strength of the association and, specifically, the relationship between different durations of breastfeeding and cardiovascular disease risk. Therefore, it was important to systematically review the available literature and mathematically combine all of the evidence on this topic," said senior author Peter Willeit, M.D., M.Phil., Ph.D., professor of clinical epidemiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria.

Researchers reviewed health information from eight studies conducted between 1986 and 2009 in Australia, China, Norway, Japan and the U.S. and one multinational study.

The review included health records for nearly 1.2 million women (average age 25 at first birth) and analyzed the relationship between breastfeeding and the mother’s individual cardiovascular risk.

"We collected information, for instance, on how long women had breastfed during their lifetime, the number of births, age at first birth and whether women had a heart attack or a stroke later in life or not," said first author Lena Tschiderer, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the Medical University of Innsbruck.

The review found:

82% of the women reported they had breastfed at some time in their life.

Compared to women who never breastfed, women who reported breastfeeding during their lifetime had a 11% decreased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Over an average follow-up period of 10 years, women who breastfed at some time in their life were 14% less likely to develop coronary heart disease; 12% less likely to suffer strokes; and 17% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

Women who breastfed for 12 months or longer during their lifetime appeared to be less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than women who did not breastfeed.

There were no notable differences in cardiovascular disease risk among women of different ages or according to the number of pregnancies.

Despite recommendations to breastfeed by organizations including the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), both of which recommend babies are breastfed exclusively through at least six months of age, only 1 in 4 infants receives only breastmilk for the first six months of life. Black infants in the U.S. are less likely than white infants to be breastfed for any length of time, according to the CDC.

"It’s important for women to be aware of the benefits of breastfeeding for their babies’ health and also their own personal health," Willeit said. "Moreover, these findings from high-quality studies conducted around the world highlight the need to encourage and support breastfeeding, such as breastfeeding-friendly work environments, and breastfeeding education and programs for families before and after giving birth."

The U.S. has the highest maternal death rate among developed countries, and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause, according to the 2021 Call to Action Maternal Health and Saving Mothers policy statement from the American Heart Association. The statement, which outlines public policies that address the racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health, notes that an estimated 2 out of 3 deaths during pregnancy may be preventable.

"While the benefits of breastfeeding for infants and children are well established, mothers should be further encouraged to breastfeed their infants knowing that they are improving the health of their child and improving their own health as well," said Shelley Miyamoto, M.D., FAHA, chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Lifelong Congenital Heart Disease and Heart Health in the Young (Young Hearts), the Jack Cooper Millisor Chair in Pediatric Heart Disease and director of the Cardiomyopathy Program at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora. "Raising awareness regarding the multifaceted benefits of breastfeeding could be particularly helpful to those mothers who are debating breast vs. bottle feeding.

"It should be particularly empowering for a mother to know that by breastfeeding she is providing the optimal nutrition for her baby while simultaneously lowering her personal risk of heart disease."

A limitation of this meta-analysis is that little information was available about women who breastfed for longer than two years. “If we had this additional data, we would have been able to calculate better estimates for the association between lifetime durations of breastfeeding and development of cardiovascular disease in mothers,” Tschiderer said.

Prep Sports Notebook | Unity, SJO suffer losses on the hardwood

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Unity falls in OT loss to PBL

PAXTON -- Paxton-Buckley-Loda (9-6) outscored the Unity basketball team 13-3 in an overtime session on their home court to hand the Rockets their fourth and second consecutive loss this season. The Panthers used seven of the 11 free throws in the extra period to win, 51-41.

Nursing a 22-16 lead at the half, the Rockets' Blake Kimball scored all eight of his team's points in the third frame. Meanwhile, PBL closed the gap on the scoreboard, shaving the point deficit down to a two-point difference.

Unity's scoring effort was a mere shadow of their first-half effort. Kimball, who finished with 19 points - 12 from three-point range, was quiet after the third period. Austin Langendorf stepped up by scoring six of the team's eight fourth-quarter points and forced the tie at the end of regulation play. The Rockets' third-leading scorer, he finished the night with nine points.

Behind Kimball, Thomas Henry was Unity's second-leading point producer with 11 hard-earned points. Will Cowan rounded out the team's scoring effort with two points from a field goal in the first quarter.

Keegan Busboom led the Paxton-Buckley-Loda scoring effort with 13 points. Fellow seniors Mason Medlock and Brandon Knight scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. Key to their success was another senior, Mason Bruns, who came off the bench to score nine points down the stretch for the Panthers.

Box Score

Final: Unity 41 - Paxton-Buckley-Loda 51

	1	2	3	4	OT	F
Unity	11	11	8	8	3	41
PBL	11	4	13	10	13	51

Unity --
Kimball 2 (4) 3-3 -- 19, Cowan 1 (0) 0-0 -- 2, H. Thomas 1 (2) 3-6 -- 11, Rawdin 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Warfel 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Saunders 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Porter 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, O'Neil 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Price 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, A. Thomas 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Langendorf 4 (0) 1-3 -- 9, Maxwell 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0,

Paxton-Buckley-Loda --
Bruns 2 (0) 5-8 -- 9, Ager 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Busboom 1 (3) 2-2 -- 13, Uden 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Sanders 0 (0) 0- -- 0, Graham 1 (0) 0-0 -- 2, Gronsky 1 (0) 0-0 -- 2, Johnson 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Medlock 3 (0) 6-6 -- 12, Hitz 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Donaldson 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Snelling 1 (0) 0-0 -- 2, Knight 4 (0) 3-5 -- 11,

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Unity wrestling squad post four wins

MONTICELLO -- The Rockets' wrestling squad posted three shutouts during the first day of wrestling at the Illini Prairie Conference Meet this week.

Unity defeated IVC, 84-0; Rantoul, 84-0; and the St. Thomas More program, 81-0. While Monticello was the only program to score team points against the Rockets, UHS wrestlers cruised to a 72-6 victory.

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SJO loses conference game by 14

ST. JOSEPH -- The St. Joseph-Ogden (12-4) basketball team dropped their first conference game of the season, falling to Pontiac at home, 58-44. It is the second straight loss for the Spartans, who dropped a non-conference contest, 54-38, on the road against Class 2A powerhouse Teutopolis on Tuesday.

Hoping to avenge last season's two-point loss to the Hawks, SJO plays at Prairie Central on Tuesday, January 18.

The Spartans are back in the Main Gym next Friday, where they will tip-off against Illinois Valley Central.

Area Covid-19 Dashboard for January 15, 2022

The county's public health dashboard reports four additional Covid19 deaths on Saturday. The death toll in Champaign County from the pandemic is now 245.

Active Champaign County Cases:

6,681

Net change in the county: -373

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Current local cases 1/14/22

Number in parenthesis indicates new cases since 1/13/22

Ogden • 34 (1)
Royal • 9 (1)
St. Joseph • 252 (30)
Urbana • 2,292 (159)
Sidney • 53 (5)
Philo • 51 (3)
Tolono • 143 (16)
Sadorus • 19 (2)
Pesotum • 26 (0)

Total Active Local Cases:

2,879

Net change in local cases: -200

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Total Local Confirmed Cases: 18,975

New cases: 217

The information on this page is compiled from the latest figures provide by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and the Illinois Department of Public Health at the time of publishing. Active cases are the number of confirmed cases reported currently in isolation. Local is defined as cases within the nine communities The Sentinel covers.