Wolfpack senior point guard Baylee Wemhoff has been selected to play in the Striv 2017 All-Star Classic Basketball Game, presented by Cornerstone Bank.
York High School will again be the host for the 3rd Annual Striv All-Star Basketball Classic on Saturday, June 3. The girls game will begin at 6 p.m. with boys to follow at 8 p.m. in addition to a new skills challenge and 3-point shooting contest between games.
Wemhoff will be a member of the “Blue” team. Wemhoff was the Wolfpack’s second leading scorer on a team which qualified for EPPJ’s first-ever state basketball tournament. She is just one of three Wolfpack players to score more than 1,000 points in a career, joining Jenna Parks and Stephanie Bode. She will be joined on the Blue team by Halle Plumtree – Fullerton, Katy Gathje – Central City, Aubrey Frederick and Emily Jones – Dundy County-Stratton, Bethany Anderson – WP-B, Macy Gustofson – Osceola, Tessa Hedlund – Boone Central, Jaime Troester – Hampton, Sam Luehr – Wood River and Tristan Smith – Wilber-Clatonia. Coach of the team will be Nathan Behlke of Dundy County-Stratton.
Members of the “Orange” team are Ashlyn Power – LCS, Kailyn Wiseman – Sutton, Tori Homolka – Wilber-Clatonia, Addison Kuta – Sandy Creek, Tristin Mason – Hampton, Sydney Hall – Exeter/Milligan, Alexis Ramaekers – Twin River, Mikayla Brady – Malcolm, Sam Brester and Chelsea Bayer – Howells-Dodge, and Kaitlyn Harrison – Alma. Head coach will be Scott Polacek of Howells-Dodge.
“The first Saturday in June has certainly been a success we didn’t really plan on,” Striv founder and CEO Taylor Siebert said. “We have been floored by the success of this event and the response we got from players, coaches and fans.
“This is a great way for us to showcase our student-athletes. Our growth and commitment to help sharing a school’s story is highlighted by this event. With over 80 schools, we have plenty of great athletes to choose from and we hope to put on a fun, family-friendly event with high quality basketball being played.”
On the girls side, friends and rivals Nathan Behlke (Dundy County-Stratton) and Scott Polacek (Howells-Dodge) will face off in a “rubber match” as Behlke and DCS defeated H-D at the state tournament in 2015 and H-D returned the favor in 2016. In different classes in 2017, DCS advanced to the D-1 final and Polacek’s Jags were the C-2 champions.
“The talent we have been able to choose from this season has been unbelievable,” Siebert added. “We are honored to be able to get four great coaches and leaders to participate in the game again this year. We are looking forward to another fun night.”
Players were nominated by coaches and then selected via a draft creating a game format where four sets of high school teammates will be on opposite sides, two in the boys and two in the girls, for each game.
