This week, Section V announced the players, cheerleaders, and coaches that were selected to participate in the 2023 Ronald McDonald House All-Star Basketball Games and once again numerous local athletes were selected to attend this prestigious event.
In all, six area girls and five local boys, along with a pair of coaches, were honored with the selections.
The purpose of the games is to showcase the talents of the area’s best high school basketball players and cheerleaders, while at the same time raising money for the Rochester Ronald McDonald House Children’s Charities.® The house is a home-away-from-home, a temporary lodging facility, where families of children with cancer, leukemia and other serious illnesses reside while the children are treated at nearby children’s hospitals.
This coming year will mark the 38th Annual All-Star Games. During that time, more than 2,700 Players and Cheerleaders have participated in the Games, all while raising more than $350,000 for the Rochester Ronald McDonald House. The Games will be played on Saturday, March 25th at Rush-Henrietta High School. The girls game will tip off at 1 p.m., with the boys game to follow at 3 p.m. The All-Star Cheerleaders will perform at halftime of the boys game.
For the Girls Red Team, Notre Dame’s Amelia McCulley and Livonia’s Kylie Buckley were selected.
McCulley led the Fighting Irish to a 20-3 overall record and to the Section V Class C2 semifinals, where they fell to eventual champion Pavilion. McCulley averaged 24.4 points per game this season to go with 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 steals and over two assists per night. Buckley led the Bulldogs to an 18-4 mark and a trip to the Class B1 semifinals, while she averaged 25.6 points, 12.1 rebounds, four steals, 2.5 assists and two blocks per night.
Representing the Girls Gold Team will be Lyndonville’s Lorelei Dillenbeck, Avon’s Sarina McDowell and Pavilion’s Karlee Zinkievich and Lauren Kingsley,
Dillenbeck helped guide the Tigers to a 15-8 record this season, with a trip to the Class D1 title game. Dillenbeck was second on the team in scoring with 9.7 points per game.
McDowell capped her career by joining the 1,000-point club and becoming the Braves’ all-time leader in points, rebounds and steals. This season she averaged 18.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, three steals and 2.5 blocks per night
The dynamic duo of Zinkievich and Kingsley led Pavilion to it second straight Section V title and third in four years after the Golden Gophers captured the Class C2 block. On Tuesday night they topped Class C1 winner Oakfield-Alabama in the crossover game to advance to Saturday’s Far West Regional final. Zinkievich is leading Pavilion with 18.5 points and 4.9 assists per game to go with 3.9 steals and 2.5 boards per night. Kingsley is averaging a double-double of 18.1 points and 11.5 rebounds to go with a team-high 4.3 blocks per night, as well as over two assists and two steals per game.
Representing the Boys Red Team will be Notre Dame’s Jordan Welker, York’s Maddox Timothy and Geneseo’s Ryan Whitney.
Welker helped lead the Fighting Irish to a 16-7 mark and an appearance in the Section V Class D1 championship game. The point guard led the team with 15.6 points and 4.3 assists per game to go with 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 steals per night.
Timothy was the second-leading scorer for a Golden Knights team that advanced to the Class C2 title game and was one win away from a second straight sectional block, while Whitney helped lead the Blue Devils to a 17-5 mark and an appearance in the Class C1 semifinals.
On the Boys Gold Team will be Pembroke’s Cayden Pfalzer and Avon’s Hudson Volpe. Pfalzer was one of two Dragons to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career this season, while he led the team in scoring, was named the Genesee Region League Player of the Year and led them to the Section V Class C2 title. Volpe was a force in the paint for an Avon team that finished at 18-5 and fell in the Class C1 title game, a win away from the program’s fourth consecutive Section V title.
The local cheerleaders selected were Emily Konfederath of Alexander, Emma Quintern of Kendall, Ella Mattica of Le Roy and Mia Hubbard of Avon.