The Benton Lions Club and Rend Lake College teamed up Friday night to host the 39th annual Basketball All-Star Games.
Four boys teams and two girls team--made up of 107 young athletes from all over Southern Illinois high schools--took to the court for a night of fun, no-pressure basketball.
"It was a lot of fun," said Sesser-Valier's Hannah Garacia. "It's nice to know that you're coming in with nothing at stake… it's just everyone having a good time playing basketball."
The athletes also competed in 3-point tournaments and the boys took part in a slam dunk challenge.
Garacia took the 3-point championship for the girls after she said she did not even want to compete in the tournament.
"I was shocked," she said. "I didn't want to do it, but my dad told me to just do it so I thought 'fine, what do I have to lose?' and I won it."
Garacia went on to score eight points for the Gold Team and made several defensive plays at the other end of the court.
Also, after each game, an MVP was named. After missing his first shot of the 3-point tournament, Austin Wills of the Benton Rangers drained not one or two, but five 3-pointers in the second boys' game. This finished him with a grand total of 17 points for the Gold Team. This performance not only rocketed the Gold Team to a 78-72 victory, but also earned Wills the MVP award of game two.
"I probably went way too hard for this game," Wills said after the game. "It was fun being out there with those guys, I've played against them for years. It's fun joking around because we haven't really played with each other much."
Wills came to the All-Star game with teammate and classmate Timmy Henson, who played for the Purple Team and scored six points--two 3-pointers--for his team. But Henson played in game one, so the teammates did not get the chance to play against each other.
"That would've been fun," Wills said. "It was funny… we were talking to each other from opposite benches."
But Sesser teammates Addison Baxter and Charles Farmer got the chance to play against each other during the second boys' game. Baxter played for the Gold Team while Farmer scored five points on the Purple team.
Farmer's points came from a jump shot--after two other of his teammates attempted shots--, a layup and a solo free throw.
Two Sesser girls also played opposite of Garacia in their game. Jaylin Haley and Taylor Frank played on the Purple Team. Haley scored three points and Frank tallied four for their team.
Also on opposite sides were three members of the Rangerettes. Alexis Abney played for the Gold Team while teammates Ally Gischer and Kaylee Pedigo played for the Purple Team. The All-Star Game also marked Gischer's final basketball game of her career as she is moving on to softball at the collegiate level.
"This was a good, fun last game for me," Gischer said after her game. "I'm fine with hanging it up after this."
All three Benton players contributed to the final score. Abney put up one bucket for the Gold Team while Gischer tallied two layups. With the clock running down, Pedigo fought to make some points for the Purple Team and she finally scored her solo basket with two minutes left in the game.
Christopher High School had two girls and two boys representing their school in the All-Star Game.
Maddie Gossett and Meghan Wilson played with each other on the Gold Team and each contributed to the point total.
Gossett scored four points--a layup and a jumper--and Wilson scored a jumper which drew a foul, but the extra point was missed.
As for the boys, Kaeleb Pedigo played on the Gold Team in the first boys' game while teammate Gabe Schimpf played on the Purple Team in the second boys' game.
Pedigo scored five points, a layup and a 3-pointer while Schimpf scored nine points for his team.
Each player went to the court with only fun intentions, but score was kept and the Purple Team came close to winning all three games that were played (Wills made sure the Gold Team won game two). The girls' game ended in a 79-57 victory for the Purple team; game one of the boys team saw the Purple Team win by a score of 74-64 and Gold won game two for the boys by a score of 78-72.