Top central Illinois teams set for full day of action at Country Financial Girls Basketball Shootout

St. Joseph-Ogden will host eight central Illinois programs for the Country Financial Girls Basketball Shootout on Saturday. Pleasant Plains and Cissna Park open the showcase with a matchup of postseason contenders.

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ST. JOSEPH - With the annual Toyota of Danville Classic boys basketball tournament complete, it is the girls’ turn. St. Joseph-Ogden High School will host the 2025 Country Financial Girls Basketball Shootout on Saturday, featuring eight central Illinois small-school programs.

The shootout opens with a 1 p.m. varsity game between Pleasant Plains and Cissna Park, last year’s Class 1A third-place finisher, in a matchup of postseason contenders.

The Lady Timberwolves are 6-1 as of last week, with their only loss coming by three points to Deer Creek-Mackinaw. In their six wins, Cissna Park has outscored opponents by at least 20 points. Three of those victories came in dominant fashion against Illini Prairie teams: St. Thomas More (64-14), Paxton-Buckley-Loda (57-27) and Unity (52-23).

Pleasant Plains has also handled an Illini Prairie opponent. The Cardinals improved to 5-0 after defeating Bloomington Central Catholic 62-30. They opened the season with wins over Peoria, Normal West and Edwardsville, all schools with much larger enrollments. In a rematch of last year’s sectional semifinal, Pleasant Plains defeated Carlinville 61-21 before Thanksgiving.

Game 2 promises similar excitement. Paris (7-1) faces Eureka (5-1) at 2:30 p.m. in the teams’ first meeting since 2007.

Host St. Joseph-Ogden, off to a 5-0 start, will take on Watseka at 4 p.m. The Spartans feature a tightly bonded group of nine seniors on their varsity roster. The Warriors enter at 5-1. The two programs last met on Valentine’s Day in 2019, with SJO owning a 7-2 advantage in the series.

The finale is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. between Unity (3-5) and Tri-Valley (6-1). The Vikings opened the season with a 5-0 run before falling 67-60 to Lincoln (7-1) last Wednesday.

Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for students with a valid student ID.

Junior varsity teams will play in the school’s small gym, beginning two hours before their corresponding varsity game.

The third installment of the girls’ shootout is sponsored by The Arteaga Group Country Financial Insurance Group.

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Photo Gallery |St. Joseph-Ogden overpowers Oakwood at basketball tourney

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

St. Joseph-Ogden's Parker Fitch releases a shot between Carsen Dudley and Alex Wallace in the first quarter of their Toyota of Danville Classic game on Friday. Picking up their third win of the season, the Spartans defeated the Comets 79-46 and advanced to Saturday's championship game against Bishop McNamara. Here are more photos from Friday's pool game.

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St. Joseph-Ogden's Kaden Wedig goes up to force the ball away from Oakwood's Ben Darling during second half action of their pool game on Friday.

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TAGS: St. Joseph-Ogden basketball, Oakwood Comets basketball, Toyota of Danville Classic basketball tournament, SJO sports, high school basketball

St. Joseph-Ogden, Bishop McNamara rematch set for Toyota of Danville Classic title showdown

St. Joseph-Ogden and Bishop McNamara each swept their pool play games to reach the Toyota of Danville Classic championship. The full day of basketball begins with the seventh-place game between Cissna Park and Watseka. The night concludes with awards, including tournament MVP recognition.

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Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

Oakwood's Xander Wilson tries to dribble around the defensive efforts of St. Joseph-Ogden's Tyler Hess in the final pool play game at the Toyota of Danville Classic basketball tournament at St. Joseph-Ogden High School on Friday. The Spartans defeated the Comets 79-46, improving to 3-0 on the season and securing their spot in today's championship game, a rematch against Kankakee's Bishop McNamara. Wilson and the Comets will play the third-place game agaisnt Paxton-Buckley-Loda. Hess led the Spartan offensive effort with 17 points.

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ST. JOSEPH - Host St. Joseph-Ogden (3-0) and Bishop McNamara won all three of their pool play games, earning the right to meet in this year's Toyota of Danville Classic championship. The Fightin’ Irish, last year’s champions, are 6-0 heading into the title match between the tournament heavyweights.

Seven hours of non-stop basketball action begins at 1 p.m. at St. Joseph-Ogden High School with the seventh-place game between Cissna Park and Watseka. Cissna Park struggled this week, dropping all three pool play games. The Timberwolves look to get back on track against conference foe Watseka, which finished with one win in Pool B behind Payton Schaumburg’s 30-point performance in a one-point victory.

At approximately 2:30 p.m., the only two teams in the annual tournament located south of Illinois Route 150 square off in the fifth-place game. Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond faces Charleston. The Trojans and Knights, both of whom defeated one of the teams playing for seventh place, lost two games in their respective pools.

The third-place game features an Illini Prairie vs. Vermilion Valley matchup between Oakwood and Paxton-Buckley-Loda in a contest that may be decided in the final quarter. PBL earned wins over Charleston and Cissna Park in pool play. Oakwood dropped a one-point heartbreaker to Watseka and fell to the red-hot Spartans by 33 points on Friday night.

The main event between the Spartans and the defending champion Fightin’ Irish will be an early season battle between two teams expected to make deep postseason runs. There is a sense of revenge for SJO, which, after winning three consecutive tournament titles since the pandemic, lost last year's championship to B-Mac in a physical 57-48 showdown.

After the championship game, the tournament director will present runner-up and championship awards and announce the Toyota of Danville Classic All-Tournament Team. A tournament MVP and the free throw percentage champion will also be recognized.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students, covering all four games scheduled today.

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TAGS: Toyota of Danville Classic championship game preview, St. Joseph-Ogden vs Bishop McNamara basketball matchup, Illinois high school holiday basketball tournament schedule, Oakwood and Paxton-Buckley-Loda third place game analysis, Cissna Park vs Watseka placement game breakdown

Prep Sports Notebook |Area basketball scores for December 3

Here are scores and recaps for Wednesday's basketball games in and around Champaign County.

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Boys Basketball

Charleston pics up first win at Toyota of Danville Classic

ST. JOSEPH - Tyler Oakley went 2-for-2 from the free throw line on his way to an 18-point night at the St. Joe tournament on Wednesday. Braxton Honner and Quinn Taylor scored nine points each in the team's first win of the season.

Despite a top-tier effort from Dierks Neukomm with 25 points and Seth Walder's 21, the Timberwolves fall to 0-3 on the season and still looking for a tournament win this week.

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Fourth-quarter romp fuels Watseka comeback

ST. JOSEPH - Payton Schaumburg dropped 30 points in Watseka's Toyota of Danville Classic game against Oakwood. Tyler Waugh added 17 in the tournament win for the Warriors to post a 55-54 victory in Wednesday evening's game.

Oakwood led most of the game behind double digit performances from Alex Wallace with 14 points and Carsen Dudley's 12.

Read more ...

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B-Mac rolls past PBL Panthers

ST. JOSEPH - Richie Darr talled 14 points in Bishop McNamara's 51-38 win over Paxton-Buckley-Loda. Balanced scoring from seven other players sealed the Fightin' Irish's fifth win of the season.

Ethan Williams paced the Panthers with 16 points. Tyler Cole was kept quiet, scoring just eight points, and Carson Goss chipped in six points in the loss.

Boys' Area Scoreboard

Toyota of Danville Classic

Watseka 55, Oakwood 54

Other area game results

Springfield HS 53, Central 42

Girls Basketball

Comet girls fall to Illineks

Oakwood - A weak second quarter allowed U-High to take a five-point lead at the half in their road game at Oakwood on the way to a 37-36 win on Wednesday.

Caydence Vermillion finished the game for the Comets with 11 points and 13 boards. Gracie Hanner turned nine points and four rebounds in the non-conference loss.

Josie Roseman leads Eagles in loss

Watseka - Rantoul's Josie Roseman scored 15 points and made 8 out of her 10 free throws in the Eagles road game against the Warriors. Junior Addyson Sherrick hit three treys for nine points and senior Joselyn Espinoza had two of her own on the way to an 8-point finish.

Girls' Area Scoreboard

Urbana University 37, Oakwood 36
Watseka 72, Rantoul 50
Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin 36, Paxton-Buckley-Loda 31
Glenwood 65, Centennial 29
Clinton 64, Unity 24

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TAGS: Central Illinois basketball scores, Watseka boys basketball team wins, Toyota of Danville Classic scores

Schaumburg scores 30 in Watseka comeback, Toyota of Danville Classic recap and more

St. Joseph-Ogden built a 31-point halftime lead and defeated ALAH 66-30 in its season opener.

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Oakley leads Trojans in five point win over Cissna Park

ST. JOSEPH - Tyler Oakley scored 18 points in Charleston’s 56-51 win over Cissna Park in Day 2 action at the Toyota of Danville Classic at St. Joseph-Ogden High School on Wednesday. Teammates Braxton Hanner and Quinn Taylor added nine points each. Russell Applegate contributed six more to give the Trojans their first win of the season and a 1-1 tournament record.

After pouring in a game-high 28 points against Paxton-Buckley-Loda on Tuesday, Cissna Park’s Dierks Neukomm led all scorers again with 25 points. Teammate Seth Walder finished with 21 in a strong display of high school shot-making. Despite another standout effort, the Timberwolves fell to 0-2 in the tournament and 0-3 overall.

Cissna Park returns to action Friday at 5 p.m. against Bishop McNamara (5-0). Charleston moves on to face Paxton-Buckley-Loda in its next pool game tonight at 8 p.m.

Bishop McNamara stays undefeated declawing Panthers

B-Mac’s Richie Darr scored 12 points in the first half and finished with 14 to help keep the Fightin’ Irish unbeaten at 5-0. Holding Paxton-Buckley-Loda to just 12 first-half points — the same number the Panthers scored in the first quarter — Bishop McNamara cruised to a 51-38 win.

Ethan Williams led PBL with 16 points, including 14 in an outstanding second-half effort. Tyler Cole, who had 18 points in the tournament opener against Cissna Park, added eight points and went 2-for-3 from the free-throw line.

Darr’s performance was supported by nine points from Karter Krutsinger and eight from Callaghan O’Connor, tallied over the first three quarters. Bishop McNamara is off Thursday before a long bus ride from Kankakee on Friday to face Cissna Park at 5 p.m.

PBL (1-2) faces Charleston (0-3) tonight at 8 p.m.

Schaumburg goes supernova in fourth quarter

Payton Schaumburg scored 14 points in the fourth quarter of Watseka’s pool game against Oakwood in an unbelievable comeback performance. Down by 11 at the end of the third quarter, Schaumburg single-handedly erased the deficit — and then some — to give the Warriors their first win of the season. Tyler Waugh carried the game the first three quarter with 17 points, while Jack Hutchinson added six points on two first-half 3-pointers, and Austin Morris completed Watseka’s scoring with a third-quarter field goal.

Schaumburg finished with a game-high 30 points, the top performance of the tournament so far.

Oakwood, an impressive 18-for-21 from the free-throw line, trailed by six after the first quarter and fought back to lead by five at halftime. The Comets held the advantage until the fourth quarter, when Schaumburg took over.

Alex Wallace and Carsen Dudley scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, for Oakwood. Collin Furry added nine, and Jaethan Perez contributed eight, five of which came at the line. Wallace made seven of his eight free throws, while Dudley posted a perfect 5-for-5 night for the Comets.

Oakwood returns to the floor at St. Joseph-Ogden to face Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond at 5 p.m. Watseka plays host St. Joseph-Ogden at 6:30.

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TAGS: St. Joseph-Ogden's Toyota of Danville Classic, Central Illinois basketball tournament, Kankakee Bishop McNamara, Watseka Warriors amazing comeback win, Toyota of Danville Classic basketball scores