Senior hoopsters' last chance to shine in all-star game Saturday

Sun | Sports

Sun Staff — Mar 21st, 2003

The rosters are set for Saturday's inaugural Senior High School All-Star Basketball doubleheader for boys and girls from the Kitsap Peninsula.

Rick Walker of Sports Beyond, the sponsor of the event, hopes it will become a West Sound tradition.

Olympic College's Bremer Center Gym will be the site of the all-star classic. The schedule: girls hot-shot and 3-point shooting contests, 2:30 p.m.; girls games, 3:30 p.m.; boys hot-shot and 3-point shooting contests, 5 p.m., and boys game, 6 p.m.

"In hindsight, we should have started the selection process before the season ended, but for the first year, it's coming together fairly well," said Walker, the King's West boys coach and director of the non-profit Sports Beyond organization. "I think it'll be a lot of fun for the players and a chance for the fans to show their appreciation for all the entertainment these players have provided over the years."

Coaches from the area nominated their top seniors, and a selection committee divided the final selections into Cascade and Puget Sound squads. Because of spring sports and other commitments, some players weren't available, said Walker.

Reece Gliko, who recently resigned as head coach at Olympic College, will coach the Cascade boys squad and Peninsula Community College's Peter Stewart will run the Puget Sound team.

Olympic College coach Rick Peters will coach the Puget Sound girls and Julie Stewart, a candidate for the vacant women's job at Peninsula C.C., will coach the Cascade.

The teams will play four 10-minute quarters.

Walker said expenses for the events are about $2,000. He hopes to break even this year.

"In years to come, we'd like to help finance some boys and girls select teams to tour locally and make a trip to places like Las Vegas for summer tournaments," Walker said.

ALL-STAR ROSTERS

BOYS

Cascade: Nate Seitz, Brian Cox, Trivone Curry, South Kitsap; Noah Garguile, Zack Otis, Bremerton; Matt Sinnes, Port Angeles; Aaron Sawyer, Shelton; Charlie Merry, Dusty Rasmussen, Klahowya; Brandin Jones, King's West; Robbie Andrus, Chimacum; Josh Johnson, Olympic (PA's Nate Gossard and Ferbien Encomienda of Olympic are alternates).

Puget Sound: Marshall Gerlach, Peninsula; Reid Ammann, North Kitsap; Steve Hackett, Kyle McDonnell, North Mason; Morgan Axton, Troy Johnson, Gig Harbor; Dwayne Thibodeaux, Lukas Henne, Marcus McKay, Central Kitsap.

GIRLS

Cascade: Britini Hintz, Jessica Hicks, Klahowya; Kim Fairbanks, Via Thomas, Diane Mangio, Olympic; Jamae Feddock, Kristi Utter, South Kitsap; Jenny Parker, Peninsula; Kaitlin Eldridge, Chimacum; Alisha Crumb, Ashley Payne, Port Angeles.

Puget Sound: Meghan March, Gig Harbor; Megan Thompson, Tiffany Millet, Sequim; Nicole Zygmontowicz, Adria Layne, Central Kitsap; Karla Waldron, North Mason; Lissy Corra, Port Townsend; Jennifer Harris, North Kitsap.

Fun day of hoops for West Sound seniors

Sun | Sports

Chuck Stark, Sun Staff — Mar 23rd, 2003

The votes are in and it's unanimous: The first West Sound Senior High School All-Star Basketball Games were a resounding success.

There was a little more mustard on the passes, a little more creativity on the drives to the hoop and a little more bounce to their step on the Bremer Center Gym court at Olympic College Saturday.

But that's what you'd expect during an all-star showcase like this.

"You get to do everything you want to do during the season that your coach won't let you do," said Nate Seitz, the animated 6-foot-4 South Kitsap athlete who showed off his hops with an assortment of dunks during pre-game warmups and his shooting skills while winning the 3-point shooting contest. "It's all about having fun."

There were enough smiles, fist-bumps, low-fives and high-fives going around to last a season.

And, yeah, they played a little basketball, too.

The boys, for a half anyway, put on quite a show. It was entertaining and well-played.

"I haven't seen too many all-star games where they passed the ball," said Les Eathorne, the retired Bremerton High coach who was among those in the crowd.

Play digressed in the second half when the Cascade All-Stars pulled away from a 50-46 halftime lead to pound the Puget Sound All-Stars, 105-75.

The girls were light on numbers -- only 13 seniors showed for the inaugural game put on by Rick Walker's Sports Beyond, an organization that formed 13 years ago to "promote excellence in sports and values for living" -- but they still put on a competitive game. The Puget Sound Stars prevailed, 64-52.

"I think it went beyond our expectations for the first time," said Walker, who doubles as boys coach at King's West, of the games, which attracted about 250 fans. "I think the kids had a really good time. We'll tweak a few things, and it'll run even smoother and be that much better in the future."

South Kitsap's John Callaghan, who guided the Wolves to a fifth-place finish at the state 4A tournament, sat in the stands next to Narrows League coaching peers Lyle McIntosh of Gig Harbor and Lee Sinnes of Port Angeles.

"We were talking about how the TCC Summer League always puts together a little all-star game at the end of the season, but it was a joke," said Callaghan. "To the kids' credit, this was really fun to watch. It was a great game. It was entertaining and the kids really competed and played hard.

"Rick (Walker) is to be commended. This is awesome."

"It's a great thing," agreed North Mason girls coach Kristy Whitcher. "Let the seniors have one more moment."

BOYS

Cascade 105, Puget Sound 75 -- Bremerton's Noah Garguile, who plans to play football at the Air Force Academy, led the Cascade team with a game-high 24 points.

Olympic's Josh Johnson added 16 and South Kitsap's Trivone Curry, known more for his defensive ability, tossed in 13.

"He's still developing," said Callaghan of Curry, who plans to play with his older brother, Tremaine, at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia. "He has a nice offensive game. Confidence is the only thing he lacks."

Seitz scored just two points, but had a number of clever passes and blocks.

"Nate had a great year for us," said SK's Brian Cox, who popped in nine points. "He's going to go on and place someplace, for sure. I'll miss him."

Seitz has applied at Pacific Lutheran and would like to play hoops for the Lutes.

Central Kitsap's Marcus McKay led the Puget Sound team with 16 points. Chimacum's scoring machine Robbie Andrus popped in 14 and Gig Harbor's Morgan Axton scored 12, most on acrobatic drives.

Shelton's 6-7 Aaron Sawyer won the hot-shot competition.

GIRLS

Puget Sound 64, Cascade 52 -- Jamae Feddock wasn't much of a 3-point threat in high school. "I might take one every five games," she said.

Yesterday, the South Kitsap senior dropped in four 3-pointers while scoring 22 points for the Cascade All-Stars.

"I don't know why I was making them," said Feddock, who shared game-high honors with Sequim's Tiffany Millet, who controlled the interior in the second half for the Puget Sound All-Stars.

Central Kitsap seniors Nicole Zygmontowicz and Adria Layne were the dominant players early-on, powering Puget Sound to an early lead that it never relinquished.

Layne scored 12 of her 15 points and Zygmontowicz nine of her 13 in the first half.

Zygmontowicz, who's headed to the University of Houston on a soccer scholarship, said it might not have been her last competitive basketball game.

"If it works out with soccer and everything, I'd like to give it a try as a walk-on at Houston," said Zygmontowicz, who is competing in track this spring for the first time.

Layne, the Narrows League Bridge Division MVP, said she could wind up playing basketball at Olympic College or Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake.

"Some smaller four-year schools have called, but I don't think I'm ready academically," said Layne. "I wouldn't mind staying here and transferring to a four-year school in the Bay Area, where my family is."

Layne said "it was kind of sad," knowing that she'd played her last competitive game with Zygmontowicz.

"Nicole's a good friend and I'm sure we'll stay in touch," Layne said.

If Layne decides to play at Olympic, Feddock could be one of her new teammates. Feddock toured the OC campus talked like she was ready to play for the Rangers.

"I'm not ready to leave home yet and go to a four-year school," said Feddock.

Olympic College's Rick Peters coached the Puget Sound team yesterday and he liked what he saw.

"I'd like to have a good majority of these players," Peters said. "Why not get greedy, I'll take a handful."

Feddock and Layne would be a nice start to his recruiting class.

"I think those two would give us a pretty good inside game," said Peters, who hasn't sat down and talked with Layne, who has had to deal with the deaths of her mother and grandmother, who both passed away in January.

"Adria's been through so many life challenges this season," Peters said. "Obviously, I'd love to have her, but the decision's up to her."

Port Angeles senior Ashley Payne, who won the 3-point shooting contest, visited Seattle University last week. Millet's reportedly headed to Pacific Lutheran.

Guards Alisha Crumb of Port Angeles, who scored 11 points, and North Kitsap's Jennifer Harris, who scored seven, are two guards who have shown some interest in OC, said Peters.

Olympic High's Diane Mangio won the hot-shot contest.

West Sound

All-Star Games

GIRLS

PUGET SOUND 64, CASCADE 52

Puget Sound	22	18	13	11	--	64
Cascade	14	18	13	7	--	52

Puget Sound -- Nicole Zygmontowicz 13, Adria Layne 15, Tifanny Millet 22, Karla Waldron, Jennifer Harris 7, Tara Shively 7.

Cascade -- Kim Fairbanks 3, Jamae Feddock 22, Via Thomas 1, Ashley Payne 11, Alisha Crumb 3, Diane Mangio 2, Kristi Utter 3.

BOYS

CASCADE 105, PUGET SOUND 75

Puget Sound	25	21	15	14	--	75
Cascade	26	24	25	30	--	105

Puget Sound -- Tony Walla 4, Reid Ammann 10, Moran Axton 12, Lukas Henne 8, Dwayne Thibodeaux 2, Troy Johnson 11, Marcus McKay 15, Robbie Andrus 14.

Cascade -- Nate Seitz 2, Brian Cox 9, Noah Garguile 24, Matt Sinnes 12, Aaron Sawyer 11, Brandin Jones 4, Josh Johnson 16, Trivonne Curry 13, Zack Otis 7, Ferbien Encomienda 7.