Fenenbock’s 33 points put North in charge

Lake City High’s Richelle Fenenbock capped a great basketball season with a great day Saturday.

Fenenbock poured in 33 points to lead the North girls to a 90-83 victory over the South in the girls game of the fourth annual Idaho High School All-Star basketball doubleheader at North Idaho College.

In the boys game, Coeur d’Alene’s Nate Bligh scored 17 points to lead the North to a 96-87 win over a much taller South squad.

Fenenbock, who led the North girls to their first victory in the event that brings together the state’s top seniors, pointed to unlikely chemistry as the reason for her team’s success.

“It’s just a blast getting all these exceptional athletes together from each team and playing together,” said Fenenbock, who helped LC to a state championship this year and was named game’s Most Valuable Player. “Even though we don’t know how each other play and we don’t know each other, we kind of do, because we’re all good, and we can all read each other – we all have that same ability.

“It’s a blast – I’m not going to lie.”

North coach Chris Johnson of Post Falls, who inherited the legacy of last year’s 103-47 whipping at the hands of the South, said event founder and NIC athletic director Al Williams had one piece of advice for him.

“Al told me, ‘Just don’t lose by 60,’ ” Johnson said before praising his team’s effort. “Seriously, though, I told the girls at halftime that I had coached a lot of all-star games before and I had never seen so many bodies hit the floor – these kids are competitors.

“I guess the girls were talking about last year’s game, because Richelle came up to me and said, ‘Coach, we’re going to win’ – and I had no doubt that she meant it.”

Coeur d’Alene Jenna DeLong and Lakeland’s Natalie Nichols each had 15 points for the North. Ramee Beck of Blackfoot had 24 to lead the South.

On the boys’ side, Bligh said he and his teammates weren’t fazed by the size of the South’s skyline, which included 7-footer Scott Thompson of Mountain View, who also finished with 17 points.

“We weren’t really intimidated,” Bligh said. “I’m used to playing against guys that are taller than me and my team – we didn’t have any guys over 6-3 (at Coeur d’Alene) this year, so you just kind of get used to it, I guess.

“And we all know each other pretty good, and we all get along pretty good, so it’s easy to just put it together like that when you all like each other.”

Lakeland’s Bubba Bartlett and Shane Miller of Moscow each scored 16 for the North.

“It was a fun game,” said Bartlett, who plans to play football at Carroll College next fall. “It’s probably the last basketball game I’ll play, so it was great to get together with all the talent from around the state.

Between games, 5-11 Shane Moser of Lewiston won the slam-dunk competition, jamming one home while jumping over 6-8 Bengals teammate Andrew Packwood.

Lake City’s Ty Stoddard and Kootenai’s Cassie Scheffelmaier won the boys and girls 3-point shooting contests and Stoddard outlasted Scheffelmaier 6-5 to win the overall competition.