Published: April 18, 2008 11:53 pm         

Area standouts to battle one more time

28th annual McDonald’s/Frostburg Lions All-Star Classic Sunday at Frostburg State

Top high school senior basketball players from Maryland and West Virginia will square off one more time in the McDonald’s/Frostburg Lions All-Star Classic on Sunday.

Now nearing three decades, the 28th annual all-star games will be held at Frostburg State University’s Bobcat Arena.

The afternoon tips off at 2 o’clock when the Maryland girls play the West Virginia girls. The Maryland and West Virginia boys play at 4.

Team rosters are listed in today’s Scoreboard page.

Girls game

East Hardy’s Holly Wilkins, who helped power East Hardy to an 18-win season, and Stephanie Bennett, who led Tucker County to the Class A state tournament, head this year’s West Virginia team.

A 5-foot-10 forward/center, Wilkins is the only player on either side to have averaged a double-double. She averaged 11.5 points and 13.4 rebounds for the Cougars. She led the Potomac Valley Conference Division A in rebounds.

Bennett led Tucker County in scoring and had the highest scoring average among West Virginia players in today’s game, at 15.3 points per game.

The Maryland girls feature one of the area’s top shooters in Northern’s Kasie Fratz, who was among the area leaders in scoring, foul shooting and three-point goals.

Fratz had the best foul shooting percentage of any area player — girl or boy — hitting 46 of 53 tries for 86.7 percent. She averaged 11 points and was ninth in the area with 31 three-point goals.

The Maryland team also features Mountain Ridge’s Holly Williams, who averaged 12.6 points and 4.3 rebounds and two steals, and Bishop Walsh’s Tricia Geiger, who averaged 10.4 points and was third in the area with 48 three-point goals.

The West Virginia girls won last year’s game in convincing fashion, 63-39.

Boys game

Maryland, which put up 98 points in last year’s game, has plenty of firepower again this year.

The area’s top two scorers, three of the top five, and eight of the top 20 are on this year’s Maryland team.

Northern’s Kory Gibson, Fort Hill’s Jordan Brooks and Calvary’s Jordan Peters finished No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 in area scoring. Combined, they scored 1,603 points and made 174 three-point goals.

Gibson led the area in scoring with 27.3 points per game, and in three-point goals with 87 for 3.8 per game.

Brooks, who led Fort Hill to the area championship and 23-3 record, was second with 22 points per game and made 46 three-point goals.

Peters was fourth in scoring with an 18.3 average and made 41 three-point goals.

Among others on the team are Southern’s Jordan Pacella, who averaged 13.8 points, was the area’s top foul shooter (66 for 80) at 82.5 percent, and made 35 three-point goals, and Fort Hill’s Darren Graham, who averaged a double-double with 11.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Brad Davis, of Union and Eric Wamsley, of Tucker County, head the West Virginia team.

Davis was third in the area in scoring and led the Potomac Valley Conference Division A with an 18.5 average, and also pulled in 10.7 rebounds per game.

Wamsley, who helped power Tucker County to the Class A state tournament, averaged 15.6 points, 9.5 rebounds, and a conference-high 5.5 assists.

Maryland won last year’s game, 98-81.