UBCO welcomes regional all-star games

The Okanagan High School basketball all-star games will be taking place this weekend at UBC Okanagan.

The campus will host four separate all-star games for the best junior and senior players from the Interior, with action beginning at 3 p.m. inside the gymnasium nicknamed ‘the furnace’.

Photo: Contributed

High school basketball players from all over the Okanagan will be descending on Kelowna this weekend.

The junior girls kick things off, with the best junior boys taking the court at 4:30 p.m., followed by the senior girl at 6 p.m. and senior boys closing out the evening at 8 p.m.

This will be the fifth consecutive year that UBCO has hosted the event, and  a number of students have gone on from this game to play for the Heat.

Last year’s high scorer Greet Gill starred in the senior boys’ game, putting up 32 points and went on to start for the Heat during his rookie season.

The top scorer in last year’s senior girls game was Julia Reichert, who was only in grade 11 at the time. She’s back again this year, having already signed on to play with the Heat next season. This will be her fourth straight year at the Okanagan all-star game.

Other notable players who have taken part in this game and gone on to become college stars include Sports Illustrated cover boy Kelly Olynyk, who helped lead the Gonzaga Bulldogs to a number one ranking and a first seed in this year’s NCAA tournament. He played in the Okanagan all-star game in 2009.

"It is always an honour to be selected to an all-star game. There are many basketball players in the Valley that deserve this opportunity to compete against their Valley peers,” says Heat men’s basketball coach Pete Guarasci.

“As evidenced by the amount of Provincial Championships won by teams from the interior this season – there is a high level of basketball being played in this Valley.”

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