MOUNT VERNON — Tuesday night was a night for local seniors to display their talents one last time at the 29th annual Mount Vernon News All-Star Senior Showcase, and that is exactly what they did. In particular, it was those on the Senior-Stars squad which came away with a 113-86 victory over the All-Stars.

The Senior-Stars, made up of players from Knox County schools, used effective three-point shooting and a quality defense to pick up the win.

Though several players had a special night, it was East Knox’s Taylor Cline who walked away with Most Valuable Player honors. Cline had 24 points on the night, including 18 in the second half.

“It is a nice way to finish out my career. It was a lot of fun out there. It was more like an open gym, rather than a game,” said Cline. “It is definitely fun to get to play with a lot of these different players. We’ve all been together since we were playing in seventh grade.”

The opening minutes of the game were back and forth, as one might expect with two quality opponents going full throttle, but the Senior-Stars took it to a whole new level. With the score tied at 16, the Senior-Stars put together a 19-3 run to take a 35-19 lead. Drew Cheek (Mount Vernon) had six points during the run, while Taylor Hitzfield of Fredericktown threw in four more.

Then the All-Stars returned the favor with a 15-2 run to pull within four, 38-34. Will Beacom (Johnstown) had 10 points during that span, including a 3-pointer and a three-point play. The All-Stars eventually pulled within one, before a 10-3 run closed out the half for the Senior-Stars, who entered halftime up, 51-43.

Action did not slow down the second half, as the Senior-Stars poured in the first 10 points of the half. After a basket from Utica’s Zack Walton to break the run, Cline hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put his team ahead, 67-45. The teams traded baskets over the next several possessions, but the Senior-Stars had several possessions worth three points rather than two, and took a commanding 84-55 lead.

The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the way, but the Senior-Stars merely made the most of their opportunities. Cheek tossed in eight points in the second half to help the Senior-Stars’ cause. By the end of the night, all but one player had scored, and the Senior-Stars were able to walk out on top.

The All-Stars did have the lone player to dunk on the night, as Clear Fork’s Amir Lindsay twice got free on a fast break and slammed the ball home with one hand. Numerous other alley-oop plays were attempted, but none were able to hit the mark.

In addition to Cline, five other players reached double scoring figures. Cheek finished second in scoring with 16 points. He also had five rebounds and a pair of steals. Fredericktown’s Merrit Zollars had a double-double for the game with 11 points and 10 rebounds; Danville’s Logan Snell had 15 points and three steals in the win; Hitzfield scored 12 points; and Mount Vernon’s Matt Dusenberry also reached double figures, scoring 13 points.

For the All-Stars, Beacom led with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Walton finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Lindsay was also in double figures with 14 points and five rebounds. Utica’s Shane McGuire also scored in double digits, adding 11 points.

“I really thought the kids played hard out there tonight,” said Senior-Stars head coach Christian Toombs (East Knox). “They played really good defense, which is surprising for a game like this. That gave us some easy baskets in transition. It was great to see the crowd supporting all the kids, and it seemed like they had a lot of fun.”

Though on the losing side, All-Stars head coach Mike DeLaney shared a similar mindset with Toombs.

“It was definitely a good time for the kids out there. The Senior-Stars just caught fire, especially in that second half,” said DeLaney. “It’s just a great event and really nice to get to coach my seniors one last time.”

MOUNT VERNON — Their high school basketball careers now over, several area high school senior girls basketball players competed in the 29th annual Mount Vernon News All-Star Senior Showcase on Tuesday night. A total of 21 girls met at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, then were divided into two teams — the Senior-Stars, which was comprised of schools located in Knox County, and the All-Stars of area schools located out of the county.

The teams played using collegiate rules — two halves, each 20 minutes long. The Knox County schools were down after the first half of play, as the All-Stars led at halftime, 39-33. But the Seniors-Stars came through in the second half to win the game, 69-60.

“We told them that if they had a shot, take it, and try to play good defense,” said Dan Stevens, who coached the Senior-Stars team. Stevens coaches at Centerburg High School. “We wanted to give them a chance to have fun and play with the girls they have been playing against all season.”

“It was fun and I think the girls really had a good time,” said Joy Taylor, the All-Stars head coach, and coach at Loudonville. “I told them to just came out and have a lot of fun and put on a show for the fans. I think that’s what they did, and they had a good time and that’s all that matters.”

Attendees of the game quickly saw the value of good team chemistry. Although the players are some of the best in the area, the highlights from the first several minutes of the game were nothing more than the ball being thrown away. The squads got used to the variations in play as the game progressed, and by five minutes into the first half, each team had put nine points on the board.

Just two minutes later, the All-Stars attempted a tricky play that evoked a roar from the crowd. Utica’s Kaylee Walker got a wide-open pass right around the half-court mark, then drove to the basket to not make a layup, but rather toss the ball into the backboard, just to the right of the basket. Northridge’s Mandi Swickard trailed Walker and with one motion, caught the ball and threw it back into the glass. Highland’s Tori Carpenter came through after Swickard, and was fouled as she tried to make the layup. Carpenter hit one free throw to give the All-Stars a 15-12 lead.

Fast-paced action made the rest of the first half very exciting to watch. Several fast breaks were made, and many shots were missed only to be rebounded and shot again.

“They were really having a lot of fun out there,” said Stevens. “We got down, but the girls came in and hit some 3s. We made some fouls shots, did some good things, grabbed some defensive rebounds and that played a big part.”

The Senior-Stars tied the game at 40 almost three minutes into the second half. The game was back and forth, with the lead changing several times over the next 11 minutes. With six minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 55.

With a minute and half left in the game, the Senior-Stars had a one-point lead, 61-60. Jenna Ross (Centerburg), Kelsey Payne (Mount Vernon) and Walker all scored in the final minute to stretch the score to 69-60 by the end of the game.

The game was designed as a way to honor the area’s senior basketball athletes. Game plans were not important in the contest — one of the teams even drew straws to determine its starting lineup. Players were happy to get a chance to play the game they love in front of a large crowd with pleasure on their minds rather than the final score.

“It was a special time for them to be able to have a fun time with the girls they have been really competitive with over the last four years,” said Taylor. “It was nice to see the camaraderie, and to see them having fun with girls who sometimes were at each other’s throats during the season.”

Post players were allowed to roll out behind the arch to attempt a three-point shot. Other players were given a chance to work on really high streaks (Ross shot 10-of-13 at the free-throw line for 77 percent).

The big scorer of the night was Clear Fork’s Ashley Dorner. The Colt standout hit 10-of-17 from the field and 4-of-6 from behind the charity stripe to score 26 points for the All-Stars in the contest.

“I focused on having fun out there,” said Dorner. “We were able to actually get the ball fast out there, and that was a lot of fun.”

The Senior-Stars were led in scoring by Ross, who scored 18 points, and Mount Vernon’s Emily Cassell, who scored 16 points. Centerburg’s Emma Hord also reached double figures, scoring 10.

“I was a little nervous, but it was a lot of fun,” said Cassell, who played for the Senior-Stars. “We really started to play as a team and pass to each other. It was neat playing with girls who are from around here, and they are all really good players, so it was a lot of fun.”

By the end of the night, the Senior-Stars had grabbed 50 rebounds — Cassell had nine boards — and the All-Stars collected 41. Clear Fork’s Jordan Birch had six. Marki Overholt had four assists, helping the Senior-Stars get 10 in the game. The All-Stars also had 10 assists, and were led by Sierra Fletcher, who had three. The Senior-Stars made seven steals — Cassell had two — and the All-Stars 10 — Dorner and Swickard each had two. Neither team had an extremely large number of turnovers.

“The game was a really fair matchup,” said Cassell. “I just liked getting to play with local girls who are the best in the area.”