Shooting stars

PALMER — Dazzing dunks, a flurry of three-point shooting and a whole lot of scoring highlighted action during Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches’ first senior all-star games at Colony High School Saturday night.

Seven different players scored in double digits as Team Gold played to a 125-103 win over Team Blue in the boys’ game Saturday night.

East Anchorage’s Jalil Abdul-Bissett contributed team-best 23 points for the winners. Bartlett senior Damon Sherman-Newsome, the most valuable player of the game, pumped in a game-high 28 points.

Juneau-Douglas senior Taylor Larson recorded a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds to lead Team Gold to a 64-50 win over Team Blue in the girls’ all-star game.

The games were hosted by Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches, a reactively new group founded to promote the sport and its athletes in Alaska. A senior all-star game was hosted in Alaska more than two decades ago, and AABC has been eager to resurrect the games.

“It was a special event a long time ago,” AABC president Dave Porter said before the games. “We wanted to bring it back.”

On Saturday, a collection of 24 of the top senior boys and 24 of the top senior girls from across the state were assembled at Colony High for the games.

Porter said the organization accepted player nominations and an anonymous committee selected the 24-player teams. Porter said the group does not want to reveal the identity of the coaches on the committee, but said each is a longtime and well-respected coach in Alaska.

The result netted a large chunk of the basketball talent in the 49th state, and includes players from all four class — 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A.

Athletes from across Alaska participated. In addition to major regions — Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and the Mat-Su Valley — there were also players from Bethel, Ketchikan, Kotzebue, Barrow, Skagway, Craig and Point Hope.

“It’s a great representation,” Porter said.

Each of the state’s boys players of the year competed — West Anchorage’s Devon Bookert (4A), Nome’s Christian Leckband (3A), Point Hope’s Adam Sage (2A) and Elim’s Oscar Takak (1A). Nine of the 24 players received first-team all-state honors and six others were named second-team.

On the girls’ side, there are three state players of the year — Dimond’s Keiahanna Engel (4A), Barrow’s Nicole Smith (3A) and Skagway’s Jesse Ellis (2A). There are also 10 first-team all-staters and three named second-team.

“It’s really a terrific group,” Porter said.

Five Valley athletes also played. Palmer’s Christian Odom represented Mat-Su boys, while Wasilla’s Kelsey Cottle, Celeste Colegrove and Hilary Apangolook; and Colony’s Kaitlyn Klapperich were among the girls’ all-stars.

Each of the groups of 24 were split into a pair of 12-player all-star teams. Each squad was also matched up with an all-star coach.

Coaching the boys’ gold team were Service’s Tyler Moor and Wasilla’s Ryan Engebretsen, while Monroe Catholic’s Frank Ostanik and Point Hope’s Leonard Barger coached the boys’ blue team. Hutchison’s Jenny Benson and Juneau-Douglas’ Lesslie Knight coached the girls’ gold team, and Wasilla’s Jeannie Hebert-Truax and Point Hope’s Romona Rock coached the girls’ blue team

In boys’ action, Team Gold shot hit 50 field goals and shot 53 percent from the field en route to its 125-point effort. Team Gold was 12 of 31 from beyond the arc. Abdul-Bissett was 4-of-4 from three-point range, burying three of those shots early in the first half. Cordova’s Dane Meyer finished with a double-double, collecting 15 points and 10 rebounds. Bookert scored 19 and dished a team-high five assists, while Anchorage Christian School’s Chris Voss added 17.

Nome’s Christian Leckband and Noatak’s Brett Kirk added 13 and 12 respectively for Team Gold.

Team Gold also outrebounded Team Blue 62-53.

Sherman-Newsome finished 12 of 19 from the field, adding a few dunks into the mix. Chugiak senior Colby Mitchell also sent fans to their feet with a pair of dunks during his 12-point, six-rebound night.

North Pole senior Kody Broderick logged his team’s lone double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Team Blue shot only 37 percent from the field, and was just 6 of 39 from three-point land.

The teams combined for 70 three-point attempts.

Larson finished as the only player in double digits in the girls game. The Juneau senior was 8 of 14 from the field, and named the MVP of the girls game.

West Valley’s Jasmine Yarde, Barrow’s Nicole Smith and Kenai’s Raquel Young each added eight point for Team Gold.

Cottle grabbed seven rebounds for Team Gold.

Skagway’s Kaylie O’Daniel led Team Blue with nine points and Craig’s Elizabeth Isaacs chipped in eight.

Klapperich finished with seven points on her home floor, and Juneau’s Sarah Tarver led Team Blue with eight rebounds.

Alaska Association of

Basketball Coaches

Senior All-Star Game

Saturday, Colony High School

Boys All-Star game

Team Gold 125, Team Blue 103

Gold 62-63—125

Blue 50-53—103

Gold (125) — Sage 3 2-2 10, Odom 1 0-0 2, Bookert 8 2-2 19, Meyer 5 3-3 15, Abdul-Bissett 8 3-3 23, Kirk 6 0-0 12, Leckband 5 0-0 13, Holmberg 3 1-1 7, Buchanon 2 0-0 4, Voss 8 1-2 17, Gilbertson 1 1-4 3; Totals: 50 13-19 125.

Blue (103) — Smith 1 6-8 8, Garrett-Queen 2 0-0 6, Sullivan 0 6-7 6, Allen 2 0-0 4, Brocket 3 0-0 6, Prochazka 3 1-2 7, Mitchell 5 2-5 12, Sherman-Newsome 12 2-2 28, Lane 2 0-0 5, Adams 1 0-0 3, Takak 2 2-2 6, Broderick 6 0-0 12; Totals: 39 19-26 103

Three-point field goals: Gold 12 (Abdul-Bissett 4), Blue 6 (Garrett-Queen, Sherman-Newsome 2); Rebounds: Gold 62 (Meyer 10), Blue 53 (Broderick 10).

Girls All-Star Game

Team Gold 64, Team Blue 50

Blue 25-25—50

Gold 35-29—64

Blue (50) — O’Daniel 4 0-2 9, Brakes 2 0-2 5, Ellis 3 0-0 6, Robustellini 1 0-0 2, Klapperich 2 2-4 7, Britt 0 1-2 1, Colegrove 1 0-0 2, Tarver 2 0-0 4, Ramierez 3 0-1 6, Isaacs 3 2-2 8; Totals: 21 5-15 50

Gold (64) — Pichler 1 0-2 2, Apangolook 1 0-0 2, Yarde 3 0-0 8, Jones 3 1-2 8, Fields 1 2-2 4, Engel 2 0-2 5, Smith

4 0-0 8, Young 4 0-0 8, Larson 8 0-0 14, Cottle 1 0-0 2; Totals: 28 3-8 64

Three-point field goals: Blue 3 (3 with 1), Gold 3 (Fields 2); Rebounding: Blue 45 (Tarver 8), Gold 55 (Larson 9)