Madison Johnson MVP in all-star win

CLARION — Keystone’s Madison Johnson led the White Squad to a 77-66 win and earned the Most Valuable Player award at Saturday night’s 15^th Annual Sportsmanship I/Clarion County YMCA All-Start Basketball Games at Clarion Area High School.

Johnson scored 18 points and nine rebounds, making 7 of 14 shots from the field. She also added three assists. The White had two other players reached double figures. Kane’s Taylor Morgan scored 14 points with eight rebounds while Elk County Catholic’s Macy Neureiter hit four 3-pointers to scored 12 points.

Also for the White, Venango Catholic’s Taylor Moltz scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.

The White used late-game run to pull away for the win. The Blue led 60-49 with 8:34 remaining before the White outscored it 28-6 the rest of the way.

The White’s Maci Thornton’s layup for the Blue tied the game at 66-66 with 2:23 remaining before the White’s Forest Area’s Mikaela Bean’s 3-pointer started a game-ending 11-0 run.

Clarion’s Thornton, this year’s All American Awards & Engraving/D9Sports.Com Player of the Year, won the Sportsmanship Award, finishing with 16 points and seven steals.

Also for the Blue, Smethport’s Morgan Okerlund had a strong game, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Otto-Eldred’s Melody Young had six points and six rebounds while Elk County Catholic’s Julia Sweeney finished with a game-high 13 rebounds.

NOTES: This year’s coaches were Dave Kerschbaumer of Karns City and Tom McNellie of Venango Catholic for the White Squad while Ken Pistner of Elk County and Dave Sullivan of Cameron County coached the Blue Squad. … The 32-point contest winner was Thornton. … Moniteau’s Stephanie McCall and Sheffield’s Jen Isenberg were invited to the game, but did not participate due to injuries.

WHITE 77, RED 66

Score By Halves

Blue            37            29            –            66

White            42            35            –            77

Blue – 66

Susie Guisto (Cameron Co.) 1-12 2-2 4, Julia Sweeney (ECC) 1-7 1-2 3, Morgan Okerlund (Smethport) 4-13 7-8 15, Maci Thornton (Clarion) 6-13 2-4 16, Shanel Preston (Karns City) 3-14 0-0 6, Somer Buchsenschutz (Port A.) 2-7 2-2 6, Allison Guth (Venango Cath.) 2-9 0-0 4, Juli Esposito (Brockway) 2-10 0-0 4, Melody Young (Otto-Eldred) 3-9 0-0 6, Erin Logue (A-C Valley) 1-5 0-0 2. Total: 25 14-18 66.

White – 77

Annie Hegedus (Karns City) 3-6 0-0 7, Madison Johnson (Keystone) 7-14 3-4 18, Nicole DiPietro (Punxsy) 1-2 0-0 2, Rylee Lundgren (Bradford) 2-8 1-2 5, Taylor Moltz (Venango Cath.) 3-6 0-0 8, Mikaela Bean (Forest) 2-4 0-0 5, Ciara Strickland (Curwensville) 3-12 0-0 6, Taylor Morgan (Kane) 5-8 3-4 14, Macy Neureiter (ECC) 4-10 0-0 12, Anna Colebert (Otto-Eldred) 0-7 0-0 0. Total: 30-77 7-10 77.

3-pointers: Blue 2-24 (Thornton 2-5, Guisto 0-6, Preston 0-5, Buchsenschutz 0-2, Guth 0-3, Esposito 0-3), White 10-33 (Neureiter 4-8, Moltz 2-3, Hegedus 1-2, Johnson 1-2, Bean 1-1, Morgan 1-1). Rebounds: Blue 68 (Sweeney 13, Okerlund 10), White 57 (Johnson 9, Morgan 8). Turnovers: White 20, Blue 13.