SOUTH CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – It was a split day for the South teams in the North-South All-Star Basketball Classic on Friday.
In the girls game, the South maintained a lead for most of the game, but Frankfort’s Halley Smith hit a buzzer-beater three to lift the North team to a 60-59 victory.
Southern West Virginia had three representatives on the girls team–Woodrow Wilson’s Olivia Ziolkowski, PikeView’s Hannah Perdue and Greenbrier East’s Daisha Summers. Ziolkowski shined on the court, scoring 19 points on her way to being named the MVP of the South team.
“It feels great to come out here, one last final high school basketball game with a couple of my buddies,” the Marshall commit explained. “Getting MVP was awesome. I was happy just to be out here and do my thing one more time.”
Perdue said, “I wasn’t doing too good there in the first half. I just keep shooting normally. I miss 100% of the shots I don’t take.”
“We’ve been playing together since sixth and seventh grade. We started off playing with each other. We’ve had our problems here and there, but we’re still a team,” added Summers.
The North-South boys game felt like more of a blowout than the score indicates. The South won 126-122.
The contest featured James Monroe’s Shad Sauvage and Wyoming East’s Tanner Whitten. Future West Virginia Mountaineer Josiah Davis tallied 30 points and impressed with his dunk skills. He was named MVP of the South squad.
“It’s just a good ending for us, to just play one last game with all the great players in the state. It was just a fun game and I really enjoyed it,” explained Sauvage.
Whitten added, “I just loved going out there and competing with all my buddies that I’ve played basketball with my whole life. I was just competitive, going out there and giving it my all.”
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I’ve enjoyed every single moment of high school basketball, even throughout COVID, ” said Davis. “Just being able to have the opportunity to play my last year, and come here and play with a bunch of great athletes and win MVP is a blessing.”
