"You got to be ready" - SJO bench steps up when called in SFHC opener

SJO's Tanner Siems takes control of the opening tipoff at the State Farm Holiday Classic on Wednesday.

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NORMAL - From the opening tip through the first quarter, the St. Joseph-Ogden basketball team's efforts were dismal against East Dubuque in the second game of the Small School Division at the State Farm Holiday Classic. Up 27-25 at the start of the second half, the Spartans extended their fragile lead by as much as 11 in the third quarter over the tenacious Warriors on the way to a 56-47 win Wednesday afternoon at Normal Community West High School.

The East Dubuque punched SJO in the mouth early, going up 6-0 and led on the scoreboard the entire quarter. Spartans' Ryker Lockhart tied the game up with 3:37 left to play in the half, followed by two more SJO buckets to up 24-20.

"It didn't seem like we were ready to play," Spartan head coach Kiel Duval confessed. He gave credit to the way the Warriors came out to play. "They had a lot more energy from the start. They were more aggressive on both ends and that took us out of what we wanted to do."

The slow rev up to aggressive play was not ideal.

"In this tournament, you can't approach games like that," he explained. "One through 16 is really, really good. If you don't come ready to play, you saw what happened in the first quarter. You have to be ready to play when you walk off the bus."

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Tanner Jacob goes up for a contested shot with East Dubuque's Carter Widmeier. Jacob scored 11 points for the Spartans in Wednesday's game.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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On the next possession, Warriors' Aaron Culbertson hit a jumper, closing the scoring gap. Tanner Jacob answered back with a trey of his own for SJO to make the score 27-23. East Dubuque would sink one more basket before the intermission and head in the locker room down by two.

It took just under a minute and a half at the start of the third quarter for Jacob to bag another trey and sink a field goal, giving SJO a 32-25 lead. Coupled with aggressive defensive play, the Spartans let the Warriors get close twice in the third quarter before taking full-control of the contest.

"It wasn't really a great start. We weren't ready to go," said Luke Landrus, who finished with eight points and four rebounds. "We picked it up after the second quarter. In the third quarter we really started playing defense and getting rebounds. That helped us offensively."

Landrus credited the bench for helping St. Joseph-Ogden get the win.

"Our bench helped us a a lot. We didn't start off fast, but we had good people come off the bench, played hard, and did their job."

Combined, Lockhart, Parker Fitch, Tim Blackburn-Kelley, Logan Lackey and Collin Thomey saw 32 minutes.

Ryker Lockhart, hopped of the bench, playing five minutes for SJO. He hit the second quarter, game-tying shot the Spartans needed against East Dubuque.

Photo: PhotoNews Media

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"We got a lot of guys with the ability to play. We told them 'you got to be ready, whatever your roll is'," Duval said. "You got to play just like the other guys. There shouldn't be any drop-off. I thought the did today."

Three SJO players finished with double figures. Shooting 75% from the field, junior Tanner Siems finished with 15 points. Logan Smith accumulated 13 points during his 26 minutes on the floor. Both Siems and Smith had three rebounds and three assists. Jacob contributed 11 points and credited with two steals.

One-for-two from the free-throw line, Thomey led the Spartans' rebounding effort with five.

Tonight, the Spartans face Rock Falls in the tournament's nightcap at 8:30-ish at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center.

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Prep Sports Notebook | Wednesday noteworthy tidbits

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Urbana takes 6th place at Crimson Lady Invite

JACKSONVILLE - Four Urbana wrestlers performed well at Jacksonville High School's Crimson Lady Invite, earning a 6th place finish in the team standings with 74 points. Freshman Rickasia Ivy (140) and senior Jurdan Tyler (235) both received second-place medals, while junior Franciana Kalanga finished in 5th place in the 170-pound division. In the 130-pound division, classmate Randi Campe took sixth place.

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Unity's Phoenix rises at Crimson Lady Invite

JACKSONVILLE - Phoenix Molina went undefeated, winning all three bouts to win the 235-pound title at Crimson Lady Invite Wednesday. After enjoying a first-round bye, Molina stuck Triad's Claire Boehne in 34 seconds. Her next two bouts went the distance. Next, the sophomore defeated Robinson's Rylee Hammond 2-0 in their quarterfinal match and won the championship title after a narrow 3-2 victory over Urbana's Jurdan Tyler.

Going 2-2 for the day, sophomore Anna Vasey finished 4th in the 155-pound weight class.

Rockets Claire Zorns (130) and Riley Petkus (140) also represented Unity at the 39-team wrestling meet but did not place.

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Spartan girls take one on the chin at State Farm Holiday Classic

NORMAL - Addisyn Martinie mustered just seven points to lead St. Joseph-Ogden's scoring effort against Bishop McNamara on opening day at the State Farm Holiday Classic Wednesday. The Lady Irish's aggressive, full-court defense produced turnover after turnover that kept SJO out of sync.

While her defensive play rose to the occasion in the second half, senior Addison Seggebruch scored just five points. Addison Brooks came off the bench to score five points in the 50-18 loss. Meanwhile, Kayla Osterbur hit one of two free-throw attempts, rounding out SJO's scoring effort.

The Spartans advance to the consolation bracket at the tournament, playing Rockford Lutheran at 9:30 am on Thursday.

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Unity 47 - Salt Fork 43

The Rockets balanced their record at six wins, six losses after beating Salt Fork at the Blue Devil Classic on Wednesday. Raegen Stringer led all scorers with 17 points. Reagan Little tallied 13 points, and Addison Ray also finished in double figures with 11 points.

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Rockets notch second tournament victory

Up 21-18 after two quarters of play, Unity picked up their seventh win of the season with a 46-35 win over Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin Wednesday.

Making 7 of 17 shots, Reagan Little finished with 15 points for the Rockets. Raegen Stringer made buckets in every quarter to contribute 14 points. Addison Ray made three treys, adding nine points to UHS' side of the scoreboard.

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Unity snags opening day win at Williamsville Tournament

It was almost like shooting ducks in a pond. Unity (10-0) rattled off 32 points in the first quarter and tacked on another 24 in the second to start the next half up 56-10 against Havana. The Rockets kept their unbeaten streak alive, rolling to 76-27 win at the Williamsville Holiday Tournament.

Dalton O'Neil led the Rockets in scoring with 14 points. Colten Langendorf had a 13-point effort, and Henry Thomas finished with 11 points. The three combined for half of the final score.

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Area high school coaches

We need your help covering your team this season to help keep fans, college recruiters, and area readers informed.

If you are coaching basketball, wrestling, competitive cheer or competitive dance at Unity, Uni-High, Urbana High School, or St. Joseph-Ogden, please send us your game or meet results for our Prep Sports Notebook. The best way to send us box scores and other info is via email to sports@oursentinel.com or editor@oursentinel.com.

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Spartans dive in to win first game at the State Farm Holiday Classic

NORMAL - St. Joseph-Ogden's Logan Smith dives in to catch a loose ball over East Dubuque senior Wyat Kruser and teammate Tanner Siems in the second half of their State Farm Holiday Classic first-round game on Wednesday. The Spartans (10-1) defeated the Warriors thanks to second-half reboot, 56-47. Siems led the SJO contingent with 15 points, while Smith delivered 13 in the first three quarters. St. Joseph-Ogden advances in the winner's bracket to face the Rockets of Rock Falls (10-3) in a quarterfinal contest at approximately 8:30 pm on Thursday.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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Photo Gallery | Lady Irish topple Spartans at State Farm Classic

NORMAL - Addison Seggebruch makes a pass to an open teammate while being guarded by McNamara's Trinitee Thompson and Lydia Nugent in the second quarter of their State Farm Holiday Classic game. The Spartans fell 50-18 to the Lady Irish in the first Small School girls' game at Normal Community High School this morning. Seggebruch finished with five points for SJO. Moving into the consolation bracket, the Spartans will face Rockford Lutheran at 9:30 am at Bloomington High School tomorrow. The Lady Crusaders lost to Brimfield 49-39 in the contest following SJO's.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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Photo Gallery

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Photo Gallery | Eureka beats Mahomet-Seymour in OT at Country Financial Shootout

Mahomet-Seymour's Adaline Eisenmann dives after a loose ball during her team Country Financial Shootout game against Eureka. The Bulldogs fell to the Hornets 52-51 in the only overtime contest at the girls' shootout at St. Joseph-Ogden High School on December 16.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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Photo Gallery

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Spartan basketball victory snatched away in seconds

Tanner Siems takes control of the opening tip against Oakwood earlier this month. Last night, the junior led SJO with 20 points against the Beecher Bobcats.

Photo: PhotoNews Media

BEECHER - The undefeated Bobcats, boasting an 11-0 record, made two critical free throws with less than two seconds remaining in the game to hand St. Joseph-Ogden (9-1) their first loss of the season. The two top-ranked Class 2A basketball programs played to an epic down-to-the-last-second 55-53 conclusion.

In his best outing of the season, Tanner Siems finished the barnburner with 20 points and four rebounds. The junior forward made 62% from the field and was 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.

Missing every three-ball shot, Luke Landrus tallied all 11 of his points in the paint and collected five rebounds.

The last 14 seconds of the game went like this:

Screenshot from 'X'

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Tanner Jacob and Collin Thomey led the team's rebound effort with six each. Jacob finished the game with 11 points, and Thomey chipped in a field goal, closing-out the game with two points.

It was a rough evening for Logan Smith, who shot just 17% from the field, but was 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. The senior dished ten assists in the two-point loss.

With one loss on the books, St. Joseph-Ogden will start their repeat title run at the State Farm Classic this Wednesday against East Dubuque (5-7). The game tips off at Normal Community West at noon.

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App created to help LGBTQ+ reduce debt and increase savings

Photo: StatePoint

StatePoint Media - While many Americans have financial concerns about the future, these anxieties are far more prominent among the LGBTQ+ community.

LGBTQ+ adults 60 and older earn less money and have more trouble paying their rent, mortgage, and other expenses than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, according to research from the Leading Age LTSS Center @UMass Boston and the National Council on Aging. SAGE, the world’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ elders, reports that 51% of LGBTQ+ elders are very or extremely concerned about simply having enough money to live on, compared to 36% of their non-LGBTQ+ peers.

Economic experts say that this financial security gap is a direct legacy of past governmental policies that put LGBTQ+ adults at a financial disadvantage, as well as ongoing discrimination that makes it harder for members of this community to secure employment, inclusive healthcare, family support and other fundamentals many take for granted throughout their lives and as they age.

Recent efforts are helping improve outcomes for the most vulnerable members of the community. For example, SAGECents is a digital financial wellness tool created specifically for the estimated 3 million LGBTQ+ Americans currently over 50, to help increase financial stability and reduce economic stress.

Launched in 2020, SAGECents is a collaboration between SAGE and LifeCents, a financial wellness technology and consulting firm, with the tool fully funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation.

This groundbreaking program is putting financial wellness into the palm of people’s hands. By creating a free account, SAGECents assesses each participant’s financial health, giving them much needed insights into their financial lives and a starting point to help them make financial decisions that improve their financial wellbeing. This includes information such as what benefits are available through Medicare, how to create a health proxy and a living will, and tips for increasing credit scores.

The app can also pair users with certified, LGBTQ-proficient financial counselors. Nearly 50% of SAGECents participants report saving an average of $571, more than 38% have reduced their debt an average of $591, and 39% have raised their credit score an average of 26 points. To learn more, visit sageusa.org.

“This is the generation that fought at Stonewall, and beyond, for the rights that so many of us enjoy. But sadly, this also is a generation that faced years of discrimination and underemployment and they are struggling financially in their later years,” says Christina DaCosta, SAGE chief experience officer. “Through the comprehensive resources and tools offered by SAGECents, we aim to empower and support these elders to achieve financial prosperity.”

In addition to widening access to financial tools for individuals, the Wells Fargo Foundation also supports SAGE’s efforts to break down the barriers responsible for this financial security gap, such as advocating against housing discrimination.

“At the root of the financial security gap is systemic discrimination. Tackling those issues is at the heart of our company’s efforts to create a stable financial future for members of the LGBTQ+ community,” says Ben-James Brown, Financial Health Philanthropy, Wells Fargo Foundation.