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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Mahomet-Seymour football coach Jon Adkins.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Voting continues until noon on Thursday at our website for our latest High School Athletes of the Week, powered by Copper Creek Contractors.
➜ 2. The female finalists are Laila Carr of LeRoy volleyball, Maddy Doggett of Westville volleyball, Tinley Parkerson of Armstrong-Potomac volleyball and Aubrey Peterson of Clinton cross-country. The male finalists are John Brauner of La Salette cross-country, Brayden Elliott of Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley football, Henry McMurry of Mahomet-Seymour cross-country and Ike Young of Monticello football.
➜ 3. Joey Wright and Mahomet-Seymour football coach Jon Adkins will have the radio call on WHMS 97.5-FM for Saturday’s Class 3A second-round playoff game between St. Joseph-Ogden and Unity.
Luther Head makes a move during the Illini’s loss to North Carolina in the 2005 NCAA tournament title game in St. Louis.
Numbers game: 42
three-pointers the Illinois men’s basketball team attempted in its 112-67 season-opening win against Eastern Illinois on Monday night. The 42 three-point attempts is an Illini single-game record, topping the 40 attempts from Luther Head, Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Roger Powell, Jack Ingram and Warren Carter against North Carolina in the 2005 national title game.
Shauna Green is 41-25 as the Illinois women’s basketball coach with the Illini set to tip off the 2024-25 season — Green’s third one in C-U — on Nov. 7 against No. 19 Florida State at State Farm Center in Champaign.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. No. 19 Florida State at Illinois women’s basketball. Before heading north to Champaign, Florida State handled North Florida 119-49 on Monday in its season opener. Ta’niya Latson, Florida State’s leading scorer last season and a two-time All-ACC First Team pick, had 27 points.
➜ 2. Southern Illinois Edwardsville at Indiana men’s basketball. SIUE plays at Illinois on Friday night, but the Cougars play in Bloomington, Ind., first in a 7 p.m. tip on Wednesday that is Indiana’s season opener.
➜ 3. Du-Pec at Paxton-Buckley-Loda football. PBL (7-3) pulled a Class 3A playoff upset last Saturday at Monmouth-Roseville and tries to keep it going at 2 p.m. this Saturday in a second-round home playoff game at Zimmerman Field.
Sullivan softball coach Valerie Denier.
Coach’s corner
Three questions with Sullivan softball coach Valerie Denier:
➜ 1. My favorite sports teams are … the Sullivan High School softball team and also the St. Louis Cardinals.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … The late, great Pat Summitt, Phil Jackson and Vince Lombardi.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … when people talk on their phone in restaurants or when they have their phone out during dinner.