Top girls ball

PABLO  — There are those basketball players who have a little something extra. And whether it comes through in leadership, shooting, passing or flash, players who have it are called all-stars.

The Valley has its fair share, and when this year’s all-star cast of girls was thrown on a court together at SKC in Pablo on Friday, there were plenty of fireworks.

From across all divisions, girls were selected to participate in the Mission Mountain All-Star game. Representatives from Flathead, Lake, Sanders and Mineral counties were chosen to compete; the ones who could make it brought the noise.

Divided into home and away squads, girls wearing the dark or light jerseys of their respective schools battled against their own teammates for boards and dished the ball to girls they may never have met, or knew only as the “enemy” before.

When all was said and done, it was the girls in lights who took it, 58-42.

The winning team was led in scoring by Plains Trotter Heather Earhart. The wily point guard snagged 14 points against her big forward teammate Emma Ehret. Ehret, who scrambled for points on the glass all game, against the likes of Charlo’s chief inside presence Stephanie Murphy, led all players with 19.

The advanced  level of play was a welcome surprise, Earhart said.

“That was really fun. Basically everyone’s at the same skill level, so there’s more people who know what to do out there,” she said.

The top winners’ scorer out of Lake County was Mission’s Katie McDonald, with nine points.

McDonald was more than happy to play a high-paced, feel-good game after the pressure of playoff basketball.

“You can finally relax,” she said. “You don’t have that pressure of having to win to keep going. You’re not afraid to do something.”

Plenty of girls took the liberty to do something, and the result was quite a game.

The darks’ Mackenzie Wood, out of Hot Springs, opened things up with a long 3-ball.

But the lights used a lineup of small point guard types to finesse the ball inside for jumpers. Two-Eagle River’s Adele Frost, McDonald and Earhart were at the forefront of this attack which gave them a 23-13 advantage seconds before going into the break. Even Bigfork’s Ariana Shults’ quick feet and tight coverage couldn’t contain the light team’s speed.

Frost’s fearless ball handling earned her a basket to start the scoring spree and she ended up finishing the game with six. A last second basket by Charlo’s Jaris Kelley kept the lights on their toes and closed the first half out at 23-15. Kelley was the darks’ second best, tallying 11 points in the loss.

In the second half, Ronan Maiden Kaylee Larson joined forces with Hot Spring’s Randi Arnold to earn the physical  points needed to expand the lead. Larson had six, Arnold seven, and both probably finished with some bruises from the looks of it.

The nifty play of the game had to go to Arlee’s Kelci Apland, who made a behind the back dish to keep a ball from landing out of bounds. Apland scored three points for the darks in the game.

Besides Ehret, Two Eagle River’s star rebounder Jaylen Carpentier was the dark’s other threat down low. She snatched up a fair share of boards and snagged an all-star basket to go home with before time was up.

When time did expire, the game kept on with one last late trey falling.

Mission head girls’ coach and announcer Les Rice decided the shot was too good to be left out.

“Even if it was after the buzzer we’ll still count it,” he said.

Rice kept things comedic, using time behind the big mic to throw in a few jokes throughout the game.

McDonald, who played under Rice all season, said it was to be expected.

“He’s a crazy guy,” she said. “He always says what’s on his mind. If someone fouls he’ll say it. If I cherry picked, he’d say something. He just has fun and I don’t think that will ever change.”

Good ball and good commentary - it’s probably safe to say a good time was had by all.