All-Star Game Has Excellent Credentials
It would take more space than is available to mention all the awards won by the players who will participate in the Second Annual Girls AAU All-Star Basketball Classic.
Suffice to say, the game - to be played at 7:30 p.m. June 16 at Lake City High School - is star-studded.
The game will feature 15-player teams from North Idaho and eastern Washington.
Among the players are all the Idaho and Washington players named to The Spokesman-Review all-area team, all the starters from Lake City’s state title team and all of the All-Greater Spokane League first team. All high school classifications in both states are represented.
Coaches for Washington are Linda Sheridan of Shadle Park and Jim Stinson of Davenport. For Idaho, it’s Dave Stockwell of Lake City and Sheila Sharp of Coeur d’Alene.
The game is played with NCAA rules. Only man-to-man defense can be used in the first half. Some rule alterations will benefit the Idaho players: there will be no 30-second shot clock; a 10-second backcourt count will be used; and over-and-back will be enforced.
The game is also dedicated in the memory of Jack Blair, the former Central Valley girls coach and activities director at Lewis and Clark who passed away in December. He helped game director Ron Adams form the Spokane Stars girls AAU basketball organization.
Six players from the Idaho-Washington game and eight players with college scholarships make up the roster for the Spokane Stars U-18 team that will participate in the national AAU tournament in Texas beginning June 30.
Kelly Bartleson (sr., Shadle Park), Tracy Ford (sr., University), Tricia Lamb (soph., St. John-Endicott), Jen Kerns (sr., Lake City), Melissa Dodge (sr., Lake City) and Alli Nieman (sr., Sandpoint) are on the team along with Tanya Kirk of Central Valley, who played in the all-star game last year before heading to Northern Arizona.
Bartleson and Ford are headed to Eastern Washington University, Kerns signed with Washington State and Dodge is going to Vermont.
Also on the team is Takeyah Jackson of Franklin in Seattle, who has signed to attend UCLA. The other college-bound players are Lynne Overly of Centennial in Meridian, Idaho, who has an academic scholarship to Albertson College in Caldwell; and Nikki Fields of Cle Elum, who signed with Pepperdine.
The other player is Lynn Brown, a junior at Liberty Bell.
Spokane is the host city for the 1996 U-18 and U-16 national tournaments. Adams is expecting a minimum of 120 teams, possibly as many as 160. The dates are July 5-13, 1996. Anyone interested in helping organize or work at the tournament can contact Adams at (509)-928-8512.
Stinson, who will help coach the eastern Washington team, has resigned as head coach at State B power Davenport after four seasons.
Not so coincidentally, those four seasons included coaching his standout daughter, Jennifer.
In his four seasons at Davenport, Stinson amassed a record of 110-9, grabbed State B championships in 1992 and 1993, and finished second in 1994 and third in 1995.
Jennifer Stinson, who finished her basketball career as the state’s all-time leading scorer, will attend Washington State University on a volleyball scholarship.
New trek for track meet
The annual Super-1 Invitational has moved from Coeur d’Alene to Lake City.
The meet is Saturday, with field events beginning at 10 a.m. and running prelims at 10:30. Running finals begin at 12:30.
About 23 full teams, plus individual entrants from several other teams are expected.
Post Falls is expected to take the boys team title - especially since senior weight specialist Ian Waltz has decided to attend the meet. Waltz was thinking about accompanying Mead to a meet in Portland, but changed his mind.
“We could have a pretty good showing,” Post Falls coach Wade Quesnell said. “We’ve got just about every event covered. This is as deep as we’ve been in a few years, and we’ve got sprinters this year, too.”
East Valley and Gonzaga Prep could challenge Post Falls.
On the girls side, defending champion University will send a nearly full team. Post Falls, East Valley, Rogers and Sandpoint should challenge U-Hi.
For Inland Empire League teams, the Lake City meet will serve as a preview of sorts for the regional meet.
Coach decides to stay
Lakeland High School boys basketball coach Mike Bayley is thankful he didn’t make a knee-jerk decision.
Bayley confirmed this week that he will return as head coach after giving serious consideration to resigning.
“I’ll tell you if it’s the right decision next year,” Bayley said, laughing. “I’ve never in my athletic or coaching career felt like I failed. But I feel like the last couple of seasons we haven’t got the job done. I couldn’t get myself to completely say, ‘I give up.’ I don’t think it’s in my nature to give up. I would have been uncomfortable with myself if I’d given up.”
Bayley said the program has fallen short of reaching the competitive level he desires. And he’s not talking about contending for a league championship every year.
“Not having the skills to shoot the ball or not to play is one thing,” he said. “But I didn’t feel like we competed most nights last year.”
Bonners Ferry’s Benson LaRue has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Mississippi Delta College in Moorhead, Miss. The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 11 points per game for the co-Intermountain League champions.
xxxx ALL-STAR GAME ROSTERS Rosters for Girls AAU All-Star Basketball Classic to be played June 16 at Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene.
Idaho roster Natalie Telford 5-9 Jr. Lake City Sarah Peterson 5-8 Jr. Falls Chr. Heidi Umthum 5-8 Jr. Post Falls Amy Regehr 5-9 Sr. Bonners Jana Nearing 5-9 Sr. Bonners Jen Kerns 5-8 Sr. Lake City Andrea Gomez 5-9 Jr. Lewiston Jennifer Stone 6-1 Sr. Highland Teresa Viebrock 5-8 Sr. Lakeland Ann Shepard 6-2 Sr. Post Falls Shannon Riggs 6-1 Sr. Lake City Melissa Dodge 6-0 Sr. Lake City Alli Nieman 6-1 Sr. Sandpoint Nicole Nipp 5-9 Sr. Lake City Angie Sorbel 5-11 Jr. Moscow
Washington roster Jayme Morrisette 5-11 Jr. Ferris Tricia Lamb 5-10 So. St.J-End. Tracy Ford 5-11 Sr. University Stacy Clinesmith 5-4 Jr. Mead Jessica Martin 6-0 Jr. Wilbur-Cr. Andee Schmick 5-10 Jr. St.J-End. Jodi Cory 5-9 Sr. Mead Kelly Bartleson 5-10 Sr. Shadle Park Jennifer Stinson 6-1 Sr. Davenport S. Guenther 5-8 Sr. Lakeside Syd Perno 6-0 Jr. University Emily Ireland 5-9 Sr. Ferris Shawn Rainer 6-0 Sr. Shadle Park Jenny Hoots 6-3 Sr. Cheney Jennifer Swinton 6-2 Jr. Ferris
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Dave Trimmer and Greg Lee Staff writers