Mission Valley athletes shine in All-Star game
At the Joe McDonald gymnasium on the Salish Kootenai College campus in Pablo last Tuesday, selective players from area basketball teams gathered to play one last game to commemorate the close out the winter basketball season. All-stars from teams within Lake County and beyond divided into two evenly matched squads to showcase some of what the best can do when pitted against the best.
In the girls contest, the light jersey home squad maintained an edge most of the first half, but the dark jersey visitors tied things up in the second half at 47 apiece when Ronan’s Micalann McCrea drained a triple. There would be three more ties (53s,57s,59s) before the home team would pull ahead for good with big contributions from Lee Camel of Ronan aided by the state champion relay speed of Mattie McAnally from Bigfork.
In the boys’ contest, the light jersey home club and the dark jersey visitor squad traded leads much of the first half. Once the second half got underway, the home team steadily pulled ahead when the visitors hit a scoring lull. The bulge was on the verge of mushrooming into the 20s when the dark jersey visitors started to reverse their fortunes by netting nylon while the light jersey home boys were forced to endure their own scoring drought. Both teams would crest the century mark with the visitors closing the gap to within striking range when time would expire in favor of the home team.
Along with a sampling of NBA range three-pointers and crisp passing assists into the interior for dynamic deuces, a couple of other memorable sequences merit further mention. One instance took place at the free-throw line when Charlo Viking Dugan Runkel decided to go creative with an improvised scoring solution that would seldom be condoned by any coach during the regular season contest. Runkel deliberately bricked his second free-throw shot off the backboard, then crashed the lane to retrieve the ricochet for an easy score. The zebra stripes providing guidance whistled him for such a blatant infraction of dubious nature, thereby ensuring that further deviations would not be forthcoming from other players in attendance.
Another crowd pleasing sequence was implemented by Patrick BigSam of the Arlee Warriors with Polson Pirate Julian Jones as its beneficiary. BigSam lofted a pass with textbook precision, which Jones obliged by intercepting in mid-flight of its descending trajectory and slammed home for a dunk, much to the elation of the crowd in attendance.
The MVPs were chosen from each of the four teams with Lee Camel, Micalann McCrea, Julian Jones and Jonathon Landon being conferred with those honors. In the three-point sharpshooting contest held at halftime of each game, Julian CutFinger of Two Eagle River won the boys segment with a baker’s dozen within a one minute span that included sequences of four in a row followed by another three in a row. Kasey Mock of Ronan was a close second with ten. Lee Camel edged out the competition for the girls triple crown with nine, while six-footers Alyssia Vanderburg of Arlee and Leah Thompson of Plains nipped at her heels.
Prior to the all-star showcase, Arlee guard Becca Whitesell achieved a rare feat by cresting the century plateau for assists in a single season by passing out 102 dishes to her Scarlet teammates. Players in attendance who were confirmed to have scored more than 400 points this past season were Lee Camel of Ronan, Alyssia Vanderburg of Arlee, Matt Rensvold of Polson, Trevor Paro of Hot Springs and Tyler Tanner of Arlee. Arlee Warriors BigSam along with Tanner and Hot Springs Savage Heat’s Paro have both crested the millennial plateau (1000) for career scoring.
Mission Valley All-Star games
Joe McDonald Gym, Pablo
Tuesday, March 23, 2016
MV All-Star Girls
Light 66, Dark 60
DARK – Micalann McCrea 18, Cheyenne Nagy 10, Alyssia Vanderburg 8, Marlee Congdon 7, Leah Thompson 6, Alicia Camel 5, Tyra Michel 2, Lauren Lefthand 2, Morgan Malatare 2.
LIGHT – Lee Camel 24, Mattie McAnally 15, Becca Whitesell 12, Nichole Lake 4, Jordyn Clairmont 4, Carly Hergett 3, Miranda Campbell 2, Brenna Clarke 2, Mikaylan Roylance 2.
3FGs – Dark (McCrea 2, Nagy, Congdon), Light (L.Camel 5, Whitesell 2, Clairmont).
DARK (Visitors) – McCrea (18p,5r), Nagy (10p,3r,1a,2s), Vanderburg (8p,6r), Congdon (7p,5r,1a,1s), Thompson (6p,4r,1a,2b), A.Camel (5p,1r,1a), Michel (2p), L.Lefthand (2p,2r,2a), Malatare (2p,4r,2a,1s,1b), Stacy Gray (1a), Kim Earhart (1r,2a,1s).
LIGHT (Home) – L.Camel (24p,1r, 1a), McAnally (15p,4r,2a,2s), Whitesell (12p,1s), Lake (4p,5r), Clairmont (4p,4r,2s), Hergett (3p,5r,1a), Campbell (2p,7r), Clarke (2p,4r,1a,1s), Roylance (2p,2r,1a), Skyler Frame (5r,1b), Karly Lawson (1r), Carley vonHeeder (2r,1a,1s,1b).
3-point shootout winner(s) – Lee Camel 9, Alyssia Vanderburg 8, Leah Thompson 7, Marlee Congdon 5.
MVPs – Lee Camel, Micalann McCrea
PLAYER SCHOOL AFFILIATIONS – Arlee (Morgan Malatare, Carly Hergett, Alyssia Vanderburg, Becca Whitesell), Bigfork (Mattie McAnally, Miranda Campbell), Charlo (Cheyenne Nagy, Mikaylan Roylance, Skyler Frame), Hot Springs (Karly Lawson, Stacy Gray), Plains (Kim Earhart, Carly vonHeeder, Leah Thompson), Polson (Nichole Lake, Marlee Congdon, Lauren Lefthand, Brenna Clarke), Ronan (Jordyn Clairmont, Micalann McCrea, Lee Camel, Alicia Camel), Two Eagle River (Tyra Michel).
MV All-Star BOYS
Light 107, Dark 103
DARK (Visitors) – Jonathan Landon 17, George Gibson 16, Philip Malatare 12, Sam Hoff 11, Alec Cole 11, Zach Osborne 10, Payton Lefthand 9, Tyler Tanner 5, Tate Weingart 4, Aaron Misa 4, Kasey Mock 4.
LIGHT (Home) – Trevor Paro 14, Adam Jordt 13, Julian Jones 13, Julian CutFinger 13, Ty Petticrew 9, Patrick BigSam 8, Joseph Potkonjak 8, Jackson Duffey 8, Ryan Ovitt 7, Matt Rensvold 6, Aaron Misa 4, Dugan Runkel 4.
3FGs – Visitor 10 (Cole 3, Landon 3, Osborne 2, Tanner, Lefthand), Home 15 (CutFinger 3, Petticrew 3, Paro 2, Potkonjak 2, Duffey 2, Ovitt, Jones, Z.Misa).
Visitors/Dark – Landon (17p,7r,1a,1b), Gibson (16p,6r,3s), Malatare (12p,1r,3a,2s), Hoff (11p,3r,1a,1s), Cole (11p,1r,1a,1s), Osborne (10p,6r,1a,1s), Lefthand (9p,4r,1a,4s), Tanner (5p,2r,3a2s), Weingarten (4p,5r,1a,1s,1b), A.Misa (4p,2r,1s), Mock (4p,2r,2a), Isaac Alexander (1r,2a,2s).
Home/Light – Paro (14p,2r,3a,2s), Jordt (13p,7r,1a,1b), Jones (13p,4r,4a,2s), CutFinger (13p,1r,1s), Ty Petticrew (9p,2r), BigSam (8p,1r,2a,1s), Potkonjak (8p,6r), Duffey (8p,6r,1a), Ovitt (7p,5r,3a,1s), Rensvold (6p,9r), Z.Misa (4p,4a,3s), Runkel (4p,4r,1a,1s).
3-point shootout winner(s) – Julian CutFinger 13, Kasey Mock 10.
MVPs – Julian Jones, Jon Landon
PLAYER SCHOOL AFFILIATIONS – Arlee (Phillip Malatare, Patrick BigSam, Tyler Tanner), Bigfork (Jonathon Landon, George Gibson, Joseph Potkonjak, Adam Jordt), Charlo (Tyson Petticrew, Dugan Runkel), Hot Springs (Trevor Paro, Sam Hoff, Zach Osborne), Plains (Ryan Ovitt, Alec Cole), Mission St. Ignatius (Tate Weingart, Isaac Alexander), Polson (Julian Jones, Matt Rensvold, Payton Lefthand), Ronan (Aaron Misa, Zeke Misa, Kasey Mock, Jackson Duffey), Two Eagle River (Julian CutFinger).
KEY: r=rebound, a=assist, s=steal, b=block
NOTE TO READERS: Tally of expanded stat data representative rather than comprehensive. Pace of contest sequences precluded thoroughness without stop action photographic recall capability. No data was able to be gathered for the first quarter of girls game.
* Other seasonal 400+, career 1000+ players were unable to be ascertained prior to deadline.