Local Sports Digest: Shepherd, Woodland 7th grade basketball teams win regional openers

Shepherd spikers split with BV

The Shepherd seventh and eighth grade girls volleyball teams split matches with Bureau Valley, the eighth graders winning in two sets, while the 7s fell in two. Piper Lewis (10 points, four kills), Rowan Weems (seven points), Greysyn Carrier (six points, three assists) and Ashlynn Ganiere (seven kills) led the eighth grade Rams.

Shepherd also split with Marquette, the 7s winning in two sets led by Meredith Waldron (eight points), Libee Hoffman (five points), Lanie Allen (five points) and Joselyn Rose (two kills). Shepherd’s 8s were paced by Anabelle Johnson’s four points and three digs courtesy of Kendall Biba.

Shepherd 7s win regional opener

The seventh grade Shepherd Rams boys basketball team (22-2) topped Shorewood Troy 25-16 in its IESA regional opener. Blake Schiltz and Landyn McEmery scored six points apiece, with Amari Molina adding four.

Woodland 7s start regionals with ‘W’

The seventh grade Woodland Warriors boys basketball team received a 19-point, 13-rebound double-double from Brayden Matsko to win its regional opener over Odell. Eli Quantance added three points, and Mason Decker had four steals.

Before that, Woodland swept Henry – the 7s winning 44-7 (Nate Berry 20 points, Grant Wisson nine, Quantance six, Matsko four) and the eighth-grade team triumphing 45-19 (Brezdyn Simons 16 points, Berry 10, Jaxon Flahaut six, Noah Lopez six, Emmett Horaney four).

Streator High honors Coach Park

Before Friday’s Pops Dale Gymnasium victory over Peotone, the Streator High School boys basketball program recognized longtime assistant coach Harry Park.

Park, who served as a coach in the program for 41 seasons, was presented a plaque between the preliminary and varsity games and sat on the Bulldogs’ bench during the Illinois Central Eight Conference win.