All-star basketball games featuring boys and girls are set for Saturday at the Ocean City High School gymnasium.
Prime Events 18th annual All-Star Saturday will be held on Saturday with top seniors from the Cape-Atlantic League facing off in the final two basketball games of four that celebrate the present and future of the CAL.
The games are being played in the Dixie Howell Memorial Gymnasium at Ocean City High School.
The two high school games, starting at 3:30 p.m., will match the best CAL seniors. The all-star teams were selected based on the all-star voting of the league’s coaches.
In the Dixie Howell Memorial Boys Classic, Wildwood Catholic’s Dave DeWeese and Pleasantville’s Butch Warner will coach one team, while St. Augustine’s Paul Rodio and Ocean City’s John Bruno will coach the other.
In the AtlantiCare Girls Classic, Mainland’s Scott Betson and Holy Spirit’s Jackie Siscone will coach one team, while Ocean City’s Paul Baruffi and Wildwood Catholic’s Steve DiPatri will coach the other. The coaches are determined by which teams go the farthest in the CAL Tournament.
Joe Sacco of Ocean City is one of the players in the boys all-star game.
At halftime of the girls game there will be a three-point shooting contest. Before the boys game, the boys will compete in a three-point shootout. Then, at halftime of the boys game, the girls and boys three-point champions will go head-to-head.
The three-point contests are the Beth Hartman Memorial Shootouts and each winner will receive a college scholarship from the Hartman family. Hartman made more than 100 three-pointers in her career at Holy Spirit and later became head coach at Egg Harbor Township before dying of cancer in her 20s.
The boys in the three-point contest are D.J. Campbell, Andrew Delaney, Michael Dodd, Cole Vanderslice, Luke Varallo and Josh Wright.
Shooting in the girls three-point contest will be Bella Halbrunner, Savanna Holt, Claudia Mairone, Liza Pellini, Liz Picardi, Paige Sofield and Zhyana Young.
During the two high school games, the 25th annual Boo Pergament Memorial Awards will be presented to the CAL’s most improved players, co-sponsored by William Schoppy Inc. and the Ocean City PBA.
Danielle Donoghue, a leader of Ocean City's girls basketball team, is one of the featured all-stars.
The day starts at noon with two games featuring middle school girls and boys from the CAL area against teams from Camden County. At halftime of each middle school game there will be a foul-shooting contest.
The MVP in the high school boys game will receive the Dave Lewis Memorial MVP Award. The MVP in the high school girls game will win the Pat Dougherty MVP Award. And the MVPs of the two middle school games will get the Yogi Hiltner MVP Awards.
Sponsors for the event include AtlantiCare, the City of Ocean City, Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, the Ocean City PBA, 97.3-ESPN, Ocean City Free Public Library, Ocean City Aquatic & Fitness Center and the Ocean City Firefighters.
Admission is $6 for the day with the proceeds benefiting the Edythe T. Selvagn Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Results and records from previous All Star Saturdays and other CAL all-star basketball events back into the 1980s are available at PrimeEvents.net.
The rosters, below, are subject to change by game time.
Girls – Team Baruffi
Qeiajae Canty, Atlantic City
Trina Deveney, Cedar Creek
Danielle Donoghue, Ocean City
Bella Halbrunner, Lower Cape May
Molly Hoffman, Ocean City
Savanna Holt, Ocean City
Chakyra Moss, Vineland
Liza Pellini, Cape May Tech
Kayla Sykes, Atlantic Tech
Girls – Team Leahy
Ionyonia Alves, Oakcrest
