Slivka, Away ahead of game

Johnsburg’s Chandler Sommerfeldt (center), playing for the Away team, runs after a loose ball Sunday during the McHenry County Area All-Star Basketball Extravaganza girls game in Hebron. Jacobs’ Maria Tamburrino (right), playing for the Home team, gives chase. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

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HEBRON – Johnsburg’s Danielle Slivka started the game like she was competing in track, not basketball.

Slivka, a 5-foot-10 senior headed for NCAA Division II Wisconsin-Parkside, helped get the Away team off to a quick lead, one it held the entire way Sunday during the McHenry County Area All-Star Basketball Extravaganza at Alden-Hebron’s Tigard Gymnasium. The Away team defeated the Home team, 69-62.

Slivka scored three of her team’s first five baskets, and Away built a big first-half lead, then held off the charging Home team in the second half. Slivka had 13 points and five rebounds and was selected as the game’s MVP.

“We were just having fun out there,” Slivka said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in this. It helped because everybody was loose.”

Crystal Lake South’s Michelle Gaede led the Away team with 14 points. She was one of four Gators who played four years on varsity.

“It’s exciting for us to finish all together,” Gaede said. “We knew the Johnsburg girls pretty well, and we get along with them. All the girls are easygoing, and it was really a fun time.”

Johnsburg coach Mike Toussaint had four of his girls on the team as well. The Johnsburg and South girls loved being on the same side after battling each other for the past four years. Johnsburg advanced to three consecutive IHSA Class 3A supersectionals.

“Danielle’s such a great athlete,” Toussaint said. “She may have been a little rusty, but she’s a quick 5-10 girl who can handle the ball like a point guard. She has good range, she’s active and she can make things happen.”

The Home team was led by Hamspshire’s 5-11 Chrissy Heine, who made her last five shots as her team cut the lead to five points late. Heine finished with a game-high 15 points and five rebounds.

“It was so much fun to get an extra game here,” said Heine, who will play at NAIA St. Xavier University in Chicago. “At halftime we said, ‘Let’s have fun and just give it our all.’ We had nothing to lose.”

Home coach Matt LePage, from Crystal Lake Central, only wished his team could have hit a few more than 12 of 29 free throws.

“We settled down in the second half and came out and got it to the rim,” LePage said. “Chrissy can get to the rim on anybody and got us going in the second half.”