Boocks Earns Girls’ Clarion Co. YMCA D9 All-Star Game MVP Award as White Beats Blue

KNOX, Pa. – Using a 26-2 run late in the first half, White beat Blue, 116-84, in the 19th annual Clarion County YMCA Sportsmanship 1 District 9 All-Star game Saturday afternoon at Keystone High School.

(Photo: Olivia Boocks of A-C Valley gets her MVP Award from tournament director Norb Baschnagel. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)

Relisten to the game:

The game was tied at 33 following a turnaround basket by Blue’s Shae Black (Coudersport) with 7:22 to play in the opening 20 minutes, but White answered with the next four points on a jumper from just inside the arc in the right corner from Madi Weber (Curwensville) with 6:58 to go and two Alayna Ryan (Clearfield) free throws with 6:33 left to retake the lead, 37-33.

Blue seemed in decent shape when Kate Horner (Punxsutawney) scored on a layup at the 6:10 mark to cut the deficit back to two, 37-35, but that turned out to be the last points for the Blue squad until Lindsay Kocjancic (Johnsonburg) hit a jumper with 6.8 seconds left in the half.

In the meantime, White scored 22 unanswered points to take complete control of the game.

That spurt started with some offensive rebounding leading to points, as Wendy Beveridge grabbed a pair of offensive boards, including one off her own miss, to make it 39-35 with 5:53 to go. Then Malliah Schreck took a pass from Beveridge and scored with 5:02 left to make it 41-35. That basket came after the fifth offensive rebound of the same possession by White with Weber hauling down three rebounds and Beveridge two on the offensive glass during the possession.

It also started a streak of six straight points from Schreck, who hit two free throws with 4:37 to play in the half and then took a feed from Chelsea DeSalve and scored at the 4:10 mark to make it 44-35.

Olivia Boocks (A-C Valley) then started to take over hitting a pair of free throws at 3:38 before assisting on a DeSalve layup at 3:22 that made it 48-35. After Weber hit another shot from just inside the arc, Boocks nailed a 3-pointer to push the lead to 18 points, 53-35.

Ryan then made it a 20-point contest when she scored on a jumper, and Kylee Eaton (A-C Valley) and Abbi Anderson (Northern Potter) both got into the scoring act to push the lead to 24, 59-35, with 13 seconds left in the half before Kocjancic’s bucket left White ahead 22, 59-37, at halftime.

Boocks earned Game MVP honors with a game-high 27 points to go with four assists and three rebounds.

Hannah Buhl (Kane) of the Blue team was named the Sportsmanship Award winner. Buhl scored a team-high 18 points on six 3-pointers and added five rebounds and three assists.

Buhl was part of a 3-point barrage by the Blue team that got the squad back into the game after it fell behind early 22-9.

Buhl’s 3-pointer with 9:16 left off a pass from Kane teammate Ella Marconi, tied the game at 26 and was the fifth 3-pointer in a span of 4:25 made by the Blue squad and the second in a row by Buhl.

Kate Horner (Punxsutawney) made the first three during the stretch hitting triples at 13:41, 13:20 and 11:49 with the last one being her fourth made 3-pointer of the half.

Following Buhl’s second long ball, Kocjancic gave Blue a short-lived 28-26 lead when she scored from a foot away off a Marconi pass at the 8:34 mark.

But Ryan answered on the other end with a 3-pointer to give White the team back, 29-28, and an Eaton bucket made it 31-28.

Alyvia McKimm, who went on to win the 32-shooting contest at halftime, tied the game back up at 31 with a 3-pointer at 7:47 before a driving layup by Weber made it 33-31 at 7:33 in favor of White.

McKimm edged Horner in the 32-shooting contest final.

Four additional players joined Boocks in double figures for the White squad.

Schreck had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, Ryan added 15 points and six boards, DeSalve had 14 points, four assists and two steals and Weber added 10 points and five rebounds. Beveridge also had a nice all-around game for White with eight points, eight rebounds and six assists with Eaton adding eight points and six rebounds and Anderson four points and six boards.

Three other players joined Buhl, who chipped in five rebounds and three assists to go with her 18 points, in double digits for the Blue team.

Marconi had 15 points and eight rebounds, Horner had 14 points, all in the first half, and Black added 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Kocjancic also contributed eight points and seven rebounds, and McKenzie Hovis (Keystone), playing her last game on her home court, had three points, eight rebounds and three assists.

WHITE 116, BLUE 84

Score by Halves

White 59 57 – 116
Blue 37 47 – 84

WHITE

Cami McNany (A-C Valley) 2 2-2 8, Abbi Anderson (Northern Potter) 2 0-0 4, Maddy Craig (Clarion-Limestone) 1 0-0 2, Chelsea DeSalve (DuBois) 6 2-2 14, Alayna Ryan (Clearfield) 6 2-2 15, Wendy Beveridge (Clarion) 4 0-0 8, Malliah Schreck (Cranberry) 8 2-3 19, Olivia Boocks (A-C Valley) 11 2-6 27, Kylee Eaton (A-C Valley) 4 0-0 8, Madi Weber (Curwensville) 4 1-2 10. Totals 48 11-17 116.

BLUE – 84

Sady VanAlstine (Elk County Catholic) 0 0-0 0, Cassidy King (Johnsonburg) 2 0-0 5, Gabby Carll (North Clarion) 3 0-0 8, Alivia McKimm (Cameron County) 1 0-0 3, Hannah Buhl (Kane) 6 0-0 18, Lindsey Kocjancic (Johnsonburg) 4 0-0 8, McKenzie Hovis (Keystone) 1 0-0 3, Kate Horner (Punxsutawney) 5 0-0 14, Ella Marconi (Kane) 6 2-5 15, Shae Black (Coudersport) 4 2-5 10. Totals: 32 4-10 84.

Three-pointer: White 9 (Boocks 3, McNany 2, Ryan 2, Schreck, Weber).