BLUE USES LATE FIRST HALF RUN TO BEAT WHITE IN KOZEL GIRLS' ALL-STAR GAME; GRUMLEY EARNS MVP HONORS
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March 28, 2009 at Penn State-DuBois
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| Johnsonburg's Abby Grumley earned tournament MVP honors. She is being guarded by Otto-Eldred's Justine Wilkins. Photo by Eric Elliott |
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| White's Kelsey Rini of East Forest and Blue's Abby Grumley of Johnsonburg at the opening tip-off of the 10th annual Kozel All-Star game. Photo by Eric Elliott |
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| Johnsonburg's Ellie Kocjancic paced the White squad. Photo by Eric Elliott |
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| West Forest's Erica Blum had a nice game for Blue. Photo by Eric Elliott |
DUBOIS – The Blue Team used an 11-0 run at the end of the first half to open up a 15-point halftime lead and then held off a valiant comeback attempt from the White Squad to get a 75-69 win in the 10th annual Alice R. Kozel Foundation District 9 Basketball Girls’ All-Star Game Saturday night at Penn State-DuBois.
Abby Grumley (Johnsonburg) earned MVP honors after leading Blue with 17 points and eight rebounds on 7 of 12 shooting.
Grumley scored four of her 17 tallies during the 11-0 half-ending run that expanded a 32-28 Blue advantage into a 43-28 halftime lead.
The run continued for Blue at the start of the second half when it scored the first five points of the half to go ahead 48-28, and Blue still led by 18, 59-41, with 12:55 to play.
But White rallied going on a 24-11 run to cut the deficit to five, 70-65, on an Ellie Kocjancic (Johnsonburg) layup with 3:10 to play. But Whitney Crosby (Austin) and Erica Blum (West Forest) had the answer in the form of a jumper and a 3-pointer to put Blue back up 10 with two minutes left effectively ending the game.
Blum added 14 points and four steals for Blue, while Bre Grimone (Elk County Catholic) had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while adding three steals. Amanda Craker (Sheffield) chipped in nine points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
Kocjancic led White with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ashley Campbell (Karns City) added 10 points and 10 rebounds, Maggie O’Neil (Cranberry) had 10 points, and Kelsey Rini (East Forest) eight points and 11 rebounds.