Metro Stars prevail
Lewis and Clark basketball sparkplug Brittany Kennedy, preoccupied with track and field this spring, has been away from the hardwood. But the Oregon State-bound star showed no effects from the time off.
Kennedy scored 17 points and had seven rebounds to lead the Metro All-Stars to their 15th straight victory, a 74-70 thriller over the Region All-Stars in Thursday’s Jack Blair Memorial Girls’ AAU All Star Basketball Classic at University High School.
Three early baskets by Kennedy staked players from the Greater Spokane League to an early 12-4 lead. Active Post Falls sophomore Katelan Loper, wearing the same No. 22 as Kennedy, then helped fuel a 15-point first-half run, giving the Region team a 19-12 advantage.
The Metro Stars spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. They regained a 29-25 lead, fell behind by a basket at the half and trailed 49-41 with 15 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in the game.
“We got dead and lost our emotion,” Kennedy said. “That’s what happens in an All-Star game, when so many players who play against each other are playing together. But we found our flow and fought back together, on and off the court.”
Kennedy scored 10 first-half points and hit an important 3-pointer in the second half.
Critical to the comeback in the game’s final 5:30 were two 3-point baskets by Kennedy’s LC teammate Sarah Kliewer and the energy provided by Central Valley’s Justine Bowman, who made four free throws, the latter two giving Metro a 69-65 lead.
Lake City star Katie Baker’s three-point play with 37 seconds remaining cut the Metro lead to a point, but Jazmine Redmon (Mead) and Lexie Pettersen (Shadle Park) made free throws to secure the taut win.
Pettersen, signed with Washington State as the Metro’s other Division I player, added 14 points. All 13 players on the team scored.
“Everyone hit a big shot at the right time, which is the way it’s supposed to be,” said Jim Redmon, coach of the Metro team and LC. “We knew coming in with the talent they had it was going to be a battle.”
Loper finished with 15 points and Baker added 11. But the Region team hurt its cause at the free-throw line. At one point, the team had made just 7 of 20 attempts from the line.
“We’ve got to be better than that,” said coach Dale Poffenroth from Idaho state champion Coeur d’Alene. “If you hit 60 percent from the line you win. I don’t know who the kid was who hit those two threes (Kliewer), but that was tough right there at the end. But it was a good game. The kids played well and Kennedy showed she can play where she is going. She just dominated.”