Leading Sullivan to the championship of the inaugural Peoples Bank Holiday Classic Friday, Sullivan’s Sierra Pryor earned the Bill Wallis MVP trophy.
“Sierra puts in a lot of work,” said Sullivan Head Coach Jason Merkel. “She loves the game. We feel the same way. The effort and intensity she brings is exactly what this team needs.”
Pryor, a junior guard, netted 15 points while helping the host squad knock off Farmington in the title contest, 49-35.
For the tournament, Pryor averaged 17.3 points per game for the top-seeded Lady Eagles.
Tournament organizers also selected five players to the all-tournament first team and five others to the second team.
Making the first team were:
• Farmington senior forward Rachel Williams;
• Borgia junior guard Janie Arand;
• Owensville freshman forward Hailey Diestelkamp;
• Washington junior guard Courtney Kedroski; and
• Sullivan junior guard Aley Lucas.
“With the absence of her sister (Taylor), Aley really stepped up and did a nice job,” Merkel said. “Against Borgia (in the semifinals), she had 14 points, 13 rebounds and three steals. She stepped up and gave us a complete game.”
Williams and Diestelkamp tied for the tournament scoring lead with 59 points (19.7 average) apiece. Arand averaged 17 points per game while Kedroski played only twice with 17.3 points per game. Lucas averaged 11.7 points per game.
The second team consisted of:
• Borgia senior forward Katie Lindemann;
• Sullivan senior forward Demi Reed;
“Demi was asked to guard some of the better people,” Merkel said. “We feel she’s a smart defender. We trust her in that role. She did a good job.”
• Waynesville freshman forward Kallie Bildner;
• Farmington junior guard Jordan Martin; and
• Waynesville junior forward Hannah Bland.
“I think the tournament went pretty smooth,” Merkel said. “We’re excited about it. We’ve got a couple of teams who have called and want to get into it next year. We think this is a good time. People are coming into town for the holiday season. We had a great crowd tonight. It got our town excited. We hope it does the same for everybody else. We hope to turn this into a premier tournament in the next year or two.”
Merkel said the blend of teams was just what organizers needed for the inaugural tournament.
“We had a good mix of teams from the area and outside the area,” Merkel said. “We felt there were a bunch of competitive games and good players. Hopefully we can keep promoting girls basketball in our area. That’s what we wanted to do.”
