All-Area All-Stars: Late push lifts Gold past Royal in girls game

It came down to the final minutes.

The All-Area All-Star girls basketball game was tight for much of the contest with neither team running away with it. The Gold team got the final push in the late stage of the contest to come away with a 68-65 over the Royal team Monday night at Columbus Christian.

This year’s event had a little added flavor to make it extra special by naming an MVP for each team and also having certificates for players and coaches. It brought the hundreds of fans in attendance to see their favorite local players hitting the court for one final time, and for the players, to experience one more basketball game of the season, or in case of the seniors, their careers.

The players comprised were from The Republic’s All-Area team from the nine schools across the circulation area. The beneficiary in the inaugural game was former North boys basketball standout Josh Speidel, who suffered a traumatic brain injury from an auto accident earlier that year.

The games have had a beneficiary each year, and this year’s beneficiary is a family who adopted two young Columbus Christian students following the death of both of their grandparents, with whom they had been living.

It’s been a yearly tradition that started back in 2015 by Columbus Christian boys coach Kevin Roth, former Columbus Christian girls coach Ron Bridgewater and Columbus Christian superintendent and former Jennings County and South Decatur and now Columbus North boys assistant coach Kendall Wildey. Bridgewater originally had the idea after watching his son and former Crusader Nick Bridgewater and former Columbus East player Connor Umphress practice together in the gym.

“The one thing I like about the most playing in these games is being able to play with girls all across the area,” Columbus North senior Lauren Barker, who was the Royal team MVP. “You play against these girls growing up during your season, so it’s fun to have that camaraderie and be able to play together and have fun doing it.”

Trinity Lutheran senior Bailey Tabeling, who was named MVP for the Gold team, was hesitant about playing the game initially because she didn’t want to risk an injury because she was going to leave in the summer for the Ohio University. She’s committed to play basketball for the Bobcats. When she got to Columbus Christian and saw that she was going to be playing with her Cougar teammates, she opted to play.

“It was good having fun, talking to people throughout the game and to not have anything taken serious,” Tabeling said. “Getting to come out and play and have fun and not worry about anything was really nice.”

For the game, Tabeling finished with a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds. North’s Kathryn Wilson had 10 points, Trinity’s Madison Keith finished with nine and Brown County’s Ava Stogsdill added seven for the Gold.

Barker finished with a game-high 28 points for the Royal. Hauser’s Madelyn Poe and Columbus East’s Jenna Guse had 12 points apiece. and Kennedy Horn added in 11 poiints and nine rebounds.

Gold 68, Royal 65

Royal;13;23;12;17;—;65

Gold;15;16;19;18;—;68

Royal: Kenna Streeval (Edinburgh) 0 0-0 0, Maeleigh Roberts (East) 0 0-0 0, Jenna Guse (East) 6 0-0 12, Gracie Crawhorn (Edinburgh) 1 0-0 2, Madelyn Poe (Hauser) 4 1-3 12, Adrianna Musillami (Hauser) 0 0-0 0, Sarah Lorimor (Columbus Christian) 0 0-0 0, Lauren Barker (North) 10 2-3 28, Kennedy Horn (North) 4 3-6 11, Emma Murray (CC) 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 6-15 65.

Gold: Hadassah Hurt (North) 0 0-0 0, Kathryn Wilson (North) 5 0-1 10, Emma Long (North) 1 3-4 5, Mollie Ernstes (Jennings) 1 0-0 2, Maddie McIntosh (Jennings) 2 2-2 7, Madison Keith (Trinity) 4 1-2 9, Jordan Brewer (Trinity) 1 0-0 2, Kiley Best (South Decatur) 2 1-2 5, Ava Stogsdill (Brown County) 2 1-7 7, Bailey Tabeling (Trinity) 5 0-1 14, Liza Froedge (Trinity) 1 0-0 3, Lexie Austin (Brown County) 2 0-0 4. Totals: 26 8-14 68.

3-point goals: Royal (Barker 6, Poe 3); Gold 8 (Tabeling 4, Stogsdill 2, McIntosh, Froedge).