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Kelsey Hall and Jenna Lange of Marlette, Cassy VanConant of Sandusky and Donovan Ogboh of Brown City all competed on teams in the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan's All-Star Festival at Brighton High School this past Saturday. Joining those four also were Sandusky's Al DeMott, who served as an assistant coach in the girls Class C-D contest, and Ty Graham of Reese, who was formerly from Sandusky. Kingston's Emily Kolacz was among the players in the girls C-D game. To be invited to participate, the players had to be seniors this past season that were named All-State either by the BCAM, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News or Associated Press.

Hall, Lange, and VanConant all played together on the Class C-D White Team, which lost a tightly contested battle. Hall, a 6'2" center, finished with nine points, several rebounds and an impressive block against Brandie Baker (Flint Hamady), who finished with 28 points and was named the MVP for the Black Team.

A four-year varsity player at Marlette, Hall, who will attend Saginaw Valley State University this fall, but will not be playing basketball, said the game was a great experience.

"I was really honored to play in a game with so many really good players, like Brandie Baker," she said. Hall had not played much since the winter season at MHS. "I thought I played pretty well."

It was also a great hoops finish for the three Sanilac star. Hall and Lange have been friends for years and both have known VanConant, and played against her, for some time.

"It was really fun" playing them, said Hall. "I wish I would've been in the game together with them more, but I think it was only one time."

Lange, a 6'1" point guard, who will be playing volleyball at Oakland University this fall, finished with seven points, including a pair of three-pointers, and VanConant, a 6'2" post player, added four points.

DeMott, the veteran Sandusky coach, who has over 500 career victories, stepped in as assistant with Kingsley coach Matt Schelich. DeMott was the Head Coach in the C-D girls contest a year ago. He has coached seven Lady Redskins that have been invited to play in the All-Star Festival over the last 27 years.

DeMott said he enjoyed being there with three local players. "When our three county girls were in there together, they played well. I wish they could have played more (at the same time), but we had 12 girls to get in and get playing time." He then added, "It was a good experience for these kids. It's a great honor for them."

Ogboh, a 6'2" forward, who starred on the very successful Brown City squad last winter, scored five points, but played very well, defensively, and under the boards..

"It was a good experience, and it was just nice to play one more game," explained Ogboh, who passed up opportunities to play more hoops at smaller colleges to go into pre-med at Oakland University this fall.

Ogboh played three years under Tony Burton's, disciplined structured system at BC. The boys C-D game at Brighton was more of a guard-oriented, run-and-shoot style.

"It was a little more up tempo than I'm used to," smiled Ogboh. "It's a little faster and there are a littler better players. But, it's not like it was overwhelming. It's just not like how I normally played. There's not a lot of passing."

Graham, a 6'3" wing, attended Sandusky schools until moving just prior to entering middle school The Rocket star, who will play hoops at West Liberty State College, had a nice game, finishing with 10 points. Ogboh and Reese both played for the White Team, which dropped a narrow decision.