Border Battle All Star Game

The third All Star game for Shelby this week was the MN vs. WI "Border Battle" All-Star game held at the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus. It was a much publicized event and was the First Annual so there should be many to follow in the coming years. It was very organized and had very nice brochures, nice t-shirts and was held in a very nice facility. The lighting in the gymnasium was not to my liking as the pictures turned out very yellow...that is why I converted them to black and white and also one of the reasons I didn't take very many!

I have to say I was disappointed at how the teams were matched up as the WI team consisted mainly of guards with three very tall posts, 6'7" and two girls that were 6'4". The girls from the MN team were mostly posts so you can imagine how the outcome of that game went! AND the majority of the WI team played together for a few years on an AAU team so they had plays and of course, team chemistry.

As the MN team did have 6'7" Gopher recruit but she was matched up well and when you have pretty much one guard (Shelby) that makes for a slow team and girls that are not used to getting out on defense....WI was able to shoot as many three's as they wanted. They had three guards on the floor at a time and were able to put pressure on our girls that weren't used to having to bring the ball down. There were supposed to be two more guards on the MN team but both had prior commitments and had to back out. I just wish they would have found two more to replace them as there are lots of good guards in Northern MN to choose from.

The final score was 105-61~ Ouch. It was not a fun game for me to watch and I know Shelby was frustrated, even though she did have a fun experience and was glad to have been chosen. Just wish the teams were better matched so the game would have been closer and more fun to watch.

I guess the boys' game went into overtime and the WI team won over the MN team by one point! 103-102. Bet that was a fun one!

Anyway, here are a few pictures. Before the beginning of the game and at the end of the game each team met in the middle to shake hands. How about Shelby grabbing that ball from the 6'7" girl going to D1 Kentucky? She got the jump ball and the possession went to MN! THAT was funny! I also like the one of Shelby in the huddle standing beside 6'7" Dvorak. I was going to get one of them together after the game as they hung out before and caught up with each other as they used to play on the AAU Northern Lights team a couple of years ago. The coach for the MN team was John Bauer from Itasca Community College who will of course be her coach next year at ICC.

Shelby was pretty worn out as she had All Star games Wednesday night in Duluth, Thursday night in Virginia, then a full scrimmage at ICC Friday night and the game in Superior on Saturday and she has been fighting a cold...so she's pretty pooped and ready for a break!

She does have one more All Star game for the Minnesota Coaches Association that will pit 10 girls from Class A, AA, AAA and AAAA against each other in a two game tournament. They also have a Banquet at the Hilton in Minneapolis Friday morning for the four teams and will also announce the Ms. Basketball winner at that time. That will be interesting. I'm pretty sure it will go to Taylor Hill but maybe we will all be in for a surprise? Doubt that.

They will then play at 6:00 and 8:00pm on Friday the 24th (at Macalester college) and then the losers at 1:00 pm and the winners at 3:00 pm on Saturday the 25th at Edina High School. They each wear their respective high school jerseys so that will make for some fun pictures!