Top athletes to compete in 2024 Dinsdale/Striv Sports All-Star basketball games

On Friday, the Tom Dinsdale Automotive/Striv Sports All-Star basketball game is back for another year. The girls game will start at 6 p.m. with the boys game tipping off at 7:45 p.m.

“It’s just a fun night. Kids that don’t normally get to play with each other, a lot of them are playing against each other during the year and get to get together and showcase their talents one last time,” said GICC boys basketball coach Tino Martinez, who’s one of the organizers of the event. “Some may be going on and playing in the collegiate careers but a lot of them, their competitive careers are over as far as basketball is concerned.”

There is a home and away team for both the boys and the girls teams. The girls home team will be coached by Tyler Shaw of Sidney and the away team will be coached by Kelly Cooksley and Darren Tobey of Broken Bow.

For the boys game the home team coach is Eric Rippen of Amherst and the away coach is Jabe Wurtz of McCool Junction.

All of the coaches will be coaching a player from their own team for one final time.

In similar fashion to the NBA All-Star game there’s some quirks to it and defense isn’t always prioritized.

“There are some rules in the first half as far as subbing. Striv Sports does a full component of the game where they have a four-point basket,” Martinez said. “For the most part it’s just straight up basketball, not a lot of defense played, not a lot of fouling, but quite a bit of offense.”

To decide the teams organizers send out requests for nominations to schools that use Striv and other Central Nebraska schools. Once those names are compiled the organizers, along with media members and coaches, make selections.

The girls teams consist of four city players and five area athletes. GICC’s Carolyn Maser, an All-Heartland Super Squad member, and Avery O’Boyle, an All-Heartland third team member, will be on the away team. Northwest’s Kyla Sybrandts and Haylee Brandt are on the home team.

Adams Central’s Gracie Weichman, an All-Heartland third team member, is on the home team.

The away team also features area players that include three All-Heartland team members and one All-Heartland honorable mention. MaKinley Tobey of Broken Bow was part of the All-Heartland Super Squad and led the area in scoring last season with 18.1 points per game. Macie Peters of Wood River and Denae Nachtigal of Aurora were each part of the All-Heartland second team. Ryann Sabatka of Hastings St. Cecilia rounded out the area players and was an All-Heartland honorable mention.

On the boys side of things there’s one city participant and seven area athletes involved.

Grand Island Senior High’s Mukadi Mukoma, an All-Heartland Super Squad member, is on the home team.

Area athletes joining Mukoma on the home team are Caden Block (All-Heartland fourth team) of Hastings, Braxton Wiles (All-Heartland third team) of Hastings St. Cecilia and Ethan Ramaekers (All-Heartland honorable mention) of Aurora.

On the away there are four area athletes. Doniphan-Trumbull’s Kaedan Detamore (All-Heartland honorable mention) and Jaden Williams (All-Heartland second team) will get to play together one more time. They’re joined by Blake Hinrichs (All-Heartland third team) of Ord and Chris Thomas (All-Heartland honorable mention) of St. Paul.

The game brings in some of the best players across the state who can showcase their skills in a high school gym one last time.