POTTSVILLE – It was a little bit of a ‘Dunkathon’ on the boy’s side and a ‘FunFest’ for the girls Friday evening at the 45th Annual Schuylkill County Charity Bowl All-Star basketball doubleheader at Martz Hall.

It was also a sweep for the kids on the North teams — that featured seniors from Marian, Panther Valley and Tamaqua.

The North boys pulled off a 120-81 win in the nightcap of the twinbill, while the girls crept to a 52-42 victory in the opener.

Lighting it up

Yes there was plenty of fun — just ask Rene Figueroa the Panther Valley bullet who had a lot of laughs and called it “a game that I love” and who seemed to enjoy the entire 40 minutes of basketball that was played with a running clock.

But there was also a competitive spirit as both the teams played to win.

Marian’s Brandon Sabulsky played like it was for real and nailed home a game-high 19 points, draining three triples. Minersville’s splendid athlete Bryce Ellinger had a bushel full of dunks in the North romp scoring 16 points.

It was late in the opening half when the South stuffed home a dunk from Nativity’s Ralph Muldrow for a 45-44 lead. But when Figueroa sank a bucket for a 47-45 lead, his team never trailed. Mahanoy Area’s Noah Atkins connected on for the next nine points on the way to posting 16 points for the game; it was the springboard to a 59-44 halftime lead.

“We just wanted to make sure the guys all had quality playing time and would have fun with the game,” said North coach Pat Crampsie of Panther Valley. “I thought we made it fun especially with all the dunking and stuff.”

The Tamaqua duo of Derian Stianche and Mike Bonetsky each tallied 10 points. Panther Valley’s Figueroa finished with eight points and teammate Trey Turner added six to the cause. Stianche put the North over the century mark with a reverse layup.

“We wanted to score a 100,” smiled Crampsie.

Lady Lightning

Unlike the boys, the ladies weren’t shooting lights out, but were just going up and down the floor taking turns at the triples, and it was a great way for Panther Valley’s Rachelle Filer to show her wares.

Filer buried 10 points and said she was loving her swan song on the basketball floor. “I really enjoyed this,” smiled Filer. “Hey I got to know a lot of the girls, got to play with some who we don’t get to play against in the regular season. Yes it was fun.”

Mahanoy Area’s Madison Cavenas had scoring honors on the night with 11 points.

“It was like line shifts in hockey,” chuckled Mahanoy Area’s Tom Scheeler who coached the North stars. “Hey this is a fun game and all the girls seemed to enjoy it.”

The North fell behind midway through the second half 35-33, then got a shot-in-the-arm from Marian’s Isabelle Schwabe as she helped rally her team for a 41-39 lead. Then Mahanoy’ stars Cavenas, Abbey McGee, Cierra Abrachinsky and Allison Scheeler sealed the win by combining for nine straight points.

In addition to Schwabe (seven points), Marian was represented by Emma McClafferty (two points) and Alexa Murray.