North teams roll

COEUR d'ALENE - The balance of all-star power among the senior class remained to the northern part of the state in the eighth annual Idaho high school all-star basketball games as the North boys rolled past the South 138-95 and the North girls defeated the South 83-69 on Saturday afternoon at North Idaho College's Rolly Williams Court.

Connor Hill of Post Falls scored 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, including 4 of 7 from beyond the 3-point line to earn MVP honors. The North tied the record for most points in a game with 138, and its margin of victory (43) matches the South's in a 109-66 win in 2008.

"It's always fun to come out and play against the best of the best," Hill said. "The last four years, I've improved a lot. I've started lifting and getting stronger."

Sydney Butler of Lake City scored a game-high 18 points to earn girls MVP honors.

"I was really excited to play in this game today," Butler said. "I've been looking forward to playing in this game for a while."

The North jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and never allowed the South within six points, holding them to 23 of 79 from the floor.

Boys: Skyview senior Kyle Dranginis, who has signed to play for Gonzaga next season, also had 26 points for the South. The 6-5 Dranginis also wowed the crowd between the boys and girls games, winning the slam dunk contest.

"He's an amazing player," Hill said. "He's really smooth with the ball."

Hill added he will make his decision soon on whether to attend Washington State or Idaho to play basketball.

Dranginis scored 12 of the first 28 points by the South as they built a 28-18 lead early in the first half. The North closed out the first half by hitting 10 of 25 from beyond the 3-point line to take a 67-53 halftime lead. Dranginis made 10 of 23 from the field, including 2 of 8 from 3-point range.

Priest River senior Max Salesky scored 18 points on 10-of-17 shooting for the North.

“I’m not sure yet,” Salesky said of his college plans. “I’ve got a few (two-year) schools looking at me, but I want to go to Idaho at some point.”

The last time Salesky and Hill shared the court at NIC, Hill scored 31 points on Salesky’s Spartans in an 82-70 win by Post Falls in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational on Dec. 30.

“It was nice to play alongside him today,” Salesky said. “It got to the point where I wanted to get him the ball to keep scoring. It was nice to have a team full of scorers.”

Coeur d’Alene senior Jake Matheson scored 19 points, hitting 4 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line.

“If I was guaranteed to play and shoot like this, I’d continue playing,” Matheson said. “I just don’t think that I’ll play at the next level. Players like Connor and Kyle, those are basketball players.”

Matheson intends to study to become a doctor at Boise State in the fall.

“I thought it was a great game,” Matheson said. “It was a ton of fun and I’m glad I got the chance to do it.”

South 53 42 — 95

North 67 71 — 138

SOUTH — Kyle Blanchard (Madison) 3-8 0-0 6, Tyson Percifield (Mountain View) DNP, Kyle Dranginis (Skyview) 10-23 4-5 26, Kevin Jurgensmeier (Minico) 3-7 2-2 8, Jeremy Jones (Borah) 1-5 0-0 2, Patrick Manning (Centennial) 3-10 7-8 14, Bronson Miller (Minico) 2-6 0-0 5, Alex Duncan (Boise) 3-8 0-0 6, Ben Bopp (Century) 1-3 0-0 2, Marcus Graham (Timberline) 5-13 4-4 15, Daved Gillmor (Eagle) 3-10 0-0 6, Austin Winegar (Weiser) 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 36-97 17-19 95.

NORTH — Matt Lickfold (Post Falls) 3-3 2-2 9, Jake Matheson (Coeur d’Alene) 7-10 1-2 19, Chris Wheelock (Lake City) 2-11 0-0 5, Cole Fuhrman (Sandpoint) 4-8 0-0 8, Matt Kalbfleisch (Lewiston) 1-4 3-4 5, Mark Smyly (Lake City) 4-8 2-2 11, Zach Lehman (St. Maries) 4-7 4-4 14, Jay Thomason (Lewiston) 3-7 0-0 8, Connor Hill (Post Falls) 10-17 2-2 26, Max Salesky (Priest River) 8-15 1-1 18, Eric Holbrook (Priest River) 2-8 3-4 7, Andrew Baracco (Coeur d’Alene) 3-10 0-1 8. Totals 51-108 18-22 138.

Halftime — North 67-53. 3-point goals — South 6-28 (Blanchard 0-1, Dranginis 2-8, Jones 0-3, Manning 1-1, Miller 1-3, Duncan 0-2, Bopp 0-1, Graham 1-3, Gillmor 0-4, Winegar 1-2). North 18-46 (Lickfold 1-1, Matheson 4-6, Wheelock 1-4, Fuhrman 0-2, Smyly 1-3, Lehman 2-4, Thomason 2-4, Hill 4-7, Salesky 1-6, Holbrook 0-2, Baracco 2-7). Rebounds — South 50 (Jurgensmeier 10). North 70 (Thomason, Holbrook 8). Assists — South 6 (Dranginis 2). North 14 (Hill 4). Team fouls — South 16, North 15. Fouled out — none.

Girls: Butler is planning to go to Washington State to study nursing in the fall, but she isn’t sure if she wants to try to play basketball for the Cougars.

“A game like this shows how much I love the sport,” said Butler, whose Timberwolves were knocked out of the 5A Region 1 tournament by eventual state runner-up Coeur d’Alene. “It was OK to be a little more selfish and not pass as much today. Our season ended on a heartbreaker, but I still wanted to show the players from the South that there’s some other good players up north. After Lewiston won the state title, there was some big motivation to play well for me.”

Tori Davenport, a guard from Post Falls, has verbally committed to play at North Idaho next season.

“I like playing here,” said Davenport, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds. “It was an interesting game. Up here, we know what we’re up against every night, but with the south, we haven’t seen a lot of them play.”

Boise forward Jacqueline Luna-Castro, who was named the 2010-11 Gatorade Player of the Year, led the South with 16 points.

“It was so much fun to play in this game,” said Luna-Castro, who will play next year at UC Santa Barbara. “I got to play with a lot of great girls. It was one of the most fun games I’ve ever played in.”

The girls defeated the boys 53-49 in the team 3-point competition, with Michelle Seitz of Nezperce defeating Sandpoint’s Cole Fuhrman 9-7 to win the overall 3-point championship.

South 30 39 — 69

North 38 45 — 83

SOUTH — Madeline Lann (Middleton) 3-10 0-1 6, Rachel Wolfe (Meridian) 1-1 0-0 3, Carrie Thibault (Jerome) 4-15 1-2 10, Aleah Lowber (Boise) 1-8 7-7 9, Sofia Huerta (Centennial) 2-7 0-0 4, Tara Marston (Middleton) 1-3 1-2 4, Jacqueline Luna-Castro (Boise) 6-10 4-6 16, Dakota Barrie (Mountain View) 0-7 0-0 0, Jessica Rutter (Centennial) 2-5 4-4 8, Shanee McBride (Vallivue) 0-7 2-5 2, Mariam Ridgewell (Mountain View) 3-6 2-4 8. Totals 23-79 21-31 69.

NORTH — Tori Davenport (Post Falls) 2-4 4-6 8, Heather Baughman (Coeur d’Alene) 1-1 1-2 3, Jenna Lewis (Lake City) 2-6 4-4 9, Jenna Davis (Lakeland) 3-7 2-2 8, Katherine Samuels (Lapwai) 0-4 0-0 0, Nikki Redinger (Moscow) 2-4 0-0 4, Sydney Butler (Lake City) 6-10 5-6 18, Michelle Seitz (Nezperce) 0-6 1-2 1, Cassie Thompson (Timberlake) 3-4 3-6 10, Savannah Blinn (Lewiston) 1-4 4 0-0 2, Tanis Fuller (Lewiston) 4-8 4-7 12, Carli Rosenthal (Coeur d’Alene) 3-6 2-2 8. Totals 27-64 26-37 83.

Halftime — North 38-30. 3-point goals — South 2-21 (Laan 0-1, Wolfe 1-1, Thibault 1-7, Lowber 0-3, Huerta 0-3, Barrie 0-2). North 3-12 (Lewis 1-3, Samuels 0-4, Redinger 0-1, Butler 1-2, Seitz 0-1, Thompson 1-1). Rebounds — South 46 (Luna-Castro 7). North 58 (Blinn 9). Assists — South 9 (Laan 3). North 9 (Rosenthal, Davenport 2). Team fouls — South 25, North 20. Fouled out — Rosenthal.