Girard basketball players Courtney McDonald and Lauren Koma had heartbreaking ends to their senior years.
On Saturday, the two ended their high school careers on a positive note as both scored on a layup despite their injuries in the East vs. West basketball all-star games at Penn State Behrend's Junker Center.
“My season was over a long time ago, but I'm glad to be on this team and to get that bucket,” McDonald said. “Missing the season was tough and to be on the court in my jersey feels kind of off, but I'm excited to be out there.”
The two scored at the start of each half as the West defeated the East 64-46 in the girls game before the East rallied in the boys game to earn a split with an 83-77 win.
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McDonald tore her ACL during Girard's first game of the season on Dec. 13 in a loss against McDowell. That painful memory was erased on Saturday as she was put into the starting lineup for the West. The coaches worked out an agreement that the East would win the tip and score while McDonald headed down to her own bucket to get the tying basket.
Girard senior leader Kayla Sharman took the inbounds pass after a Rylee Kapsar layup and fired a long pass to McDonald. She made the layup just as Sharman came running down to celebrate with her as the teammates missed their chance to play a final season together.
McDonald was immediately subbed out because she is still recovering from the injury.
The West outscored the East 26-20 in the first half before it was Koma's turn. She almost missed her chance to play in the game as she was returning from a family vacation in Cancun but her flight was delayed more than two hours. She arrived in uniform at halftime and just like the first half, she went to the basket and scored on a layup to start the second half on a pass from Sharman.
“It was awesome. I haven't shot a basketball since last season and it was pretty cool,” Koma said. “I tore my ACL and my meniscus during senior night during soccer season so I was out for this season and track and field so it has been pretty rough. This was pretty great though to score one last time.”
Inspired by the two Girard teammates, the West team scored 38 points in the second half to pull away. Sharman, who was honored between games with Corry's Logan Joncas and Fairview's James Sitter as 1,000-point scorers in the games, led the West with 13 points including several deep 3-pointers. She is headed to Saint Vincent to play basketball.
Fairview's Caroline Zentis added 11, including a long 3-pointer and several layups off her signature tough defensive play. Chloe Rossi of Fort LeBoeuf and Louisa Opp of General McLane added seven points apiece for the West and LeBoeuf's Montana Truitt added five.
Mercyhurst Prep standout Anna Tranum, an Amherst recruit, led the East with 13 points followed by Julia Patterson of Seneca with eight and Mercyhurst Prep's Anna Ferrick with five.
Boys' 3-point clinic
With some of the top dunkers in the area, including Logan Frazao, Tyler Shultz and James Sitter of Fairview, Danny Bruce of General McLane and Seneca's Jacob Young, the boys game was pegged to be a display of high-flying dunks.
Instead, the two teams combined for 26 3-pointers by 14 different players as the East rallied from a double-digit first half deficit to earn the 83-77 win.
Frazao started the game with several 3-pointers while Bruce had a big-time dunk and Sitter put down several dunks to get the West off to a 20-point lead.
D-10 boys all-stars:Meet the 2022 Erie Times-News District 10 Boys Basketball All-Stars
Boys region all-stars:Meet the boys basketball region all-stars and players of year in District 10
The East, however, started scoring at will in the second half after trailing 47-36 at the half. Mercyhurst Prep's Dewey Byrd sparked the comeback early in the second half as he drilled several 3-pointers and found Young on an alley-oop dunk to get the near soldout crowd on its feet.
“It felt great playing for the last time with a fun group of guys,” said Byrd, who is looking to walk on at Duquesne in football. “We talked all week in practice about winning this game and it means an awful lot.”
Byrd finished with 12 points on three 3-pointers, while Andrew Montefiori (Erie First Christian), Bobby Yost (Seneca) and Joncas (Corry) had two 3-pointers apiece.
Yost was also a sparkplug in the second half for the East. He drilled a 3-pointer, stole a rebound from the West and scored with one hand then hit a transition 3-pointer all in the span of less than two minutes.
Yost finished with eight points along with his Seneca teammate Young and North East's Ryan Mayes, who had several highlight-reel plays as well. Joncas finished with 10 points and put down several daggers in the final two minutes for East, while Montefiori and Harbor Creek's Gavin Ennis each had six points.
Sitter erupted for 22 points on four 3-pointers for the West, while fellow Tiger Frazao had 11 points on three 3-pointers.
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Ryan Tewell of Northwestern, a Saint Vincent football recruit, had 10 points including several late buckets to keep the West in the game. Shultz had seven points and Northwestern's Cam Perkins added six. Tewell and Perkins each had two 3-pointers for the West.
Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNreisenweber.
East-West All-Star Games
Girls
West 64, East 46
EAST – Skylar Riedel 1 0-0 3, Madison Hartner 1 0-0 2, Torreuna Roberts 0 3-8 3, Lauren Schneider 1 0-0 2, Anna Ferrick 2 0-0 5, Amaria Mims 1 0-1 2, Ellie Sebolt 0 0-0 0, Jenna Dash 0 0-0 0, Joce Ollinger 0 0-0 0, Anna Tranum 3 4-4 13, Arianna Mitchell 0 2-4 2, Miranda Nickerson 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Bresee 0 0-0 0, Rylee Kapsar 2 0-0 4, Julia Patterson 4 0-0 8. Totals 16 9-17 46.
WEST – Paige Moore 1 0-0 2, Montana Truitt 2 0-0 5, Lauren Koma 1 0-0 2, Caroline Zentis 5 0-0 11, Ella Gebhardt 2 0-0 5, Carissa Dunham 1 2-2 4, Nicole Rimel 0 0-0 0, Kayla Sharman 5 0-0 13, Peyton Massey 0 0-0 0, Courtney McDonald 1 0-0 2, Chloe Rossi 2 2-2 7, Alee Young 1 2-2 4, Louisa Opp 3 1-2 7, Brenna Cronin 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 7-8 64.
East 20 26 – 46
West 26 38 – 64
3-pointers: E 5 (Tranum 3, Riedel, Ferrick); W 7 (Sharman 3, Truitt, Zentis, Gebhardt, Rossi)
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Boys
East 83, West 77
EAST – Evan Montefiori 2 0-0 6, Ryan Mayes 4 0-0 8, Dewey Byrd 4 1-2 12, Juelz Carruthers 1 0-0 2, Gavin Ennis 2 2-2 6, Kre Thompson 2 0-0 5, Jaden Rocco 1 0-0 3, Jacob Young 4 0-0 8, Logan Joncas 3 2-2 10, Trey Battle 1 0-0 3, Colton Trimble 1 0-0 2, Justin Walker 1 0-0 3, Nick Brundage 1 0-0 2, Sam Gonzalez 2 0-0 5, Bobby Yost 3 0-0 8. Totals 32 5-6 83.
WEST – Curtis King 0 0-0 0, Cam Perkins 2 0-0 6, Logan Frazao 4 0-0 11, Jeremiah Schreiber 1 0-0 2, Ryan Tewell 4 0-1 10, Dane Jukes 1 0-0 2, Austin Shady 1 0-0 3, James Sitter 9 0-0 22, Dom Gentile 2 0-0 4, Tyler Shultz 3 1-2 7, Luke Chamberlain 1 0-0 2, Eric Steinle 1 0-0 2, Nick Grimm 1 0-0 2, Danny Bruce 2 0-0 4. Totals 32 1-3 77.
East 36 47 – 83
West 47 30 – 77
3-pointers: E 14 (Byrd 3, Montefiori 2, Yost 2, Joncas 2, Gonzalez, Thompson, Rocco, Battle, Walker); W 12 (Sitter 4, Frazao 3, Tewell 2, Perkins 2, Shady)
