Seniors Spot Lead, But Close Out Win In 2012 JUEL All-Star Game

On May 19, 2012 the JUEL (JUnior ELite) League held their 2nd annual All-Star Game. After the Underclassmen jumped out to a sizable First Half lead, the Seniors managed a big comeback later on in the game, earning a hard earned 82-69 win.

The game featured JUEL All-Star Rosters with the top stars of the Under-19 league in a showcase that pitted the Seniors vs Underclassmen. Regular season standouts from the league’s 4th and 5th year high school students made up the Seniors, against the Underclassmen, made up of JUEL standout players from the remaining age groups.

With pride on the line, the Underclassmen made an impact right from the opening tip-off, quickly jumping to a 7-1 lead with the game barely two minutes old. It was their Guards that made the big difference early on. Led by Shay Colley‘s (5’8″ G, 2014) several fast breaks, the pace they started the game with kept the Seniors on their toes, running up the score to 28-8 very late in the First Quarter.

The leaping ability of Saicha Grant-Allen (6’4″, F, 2013) helped in the rebounding department and enabled her to record a few Blocks in the First half, further solidifying the defensive front the Underclassmen were putting up. Victoria Rampado’s  (6’2″, G/F, 2013) was also applying a great deal of pressure on the defensive end as well as converting 10-foot jumpers and layups on the other end and helping the younger team to a comfortable 15 point, 51-36 lead at halftime.

A slight change up in strategy that started to take set towards the end of the First Half by the Seniors was fully exploited as a game plan entering into the Second Half. Far more pressing, including Full Court Man-to-Man and Full Court Zone started to expose cracks in the Underclassmen’s strategy. The Seniors, led by eventual game MVP, Danielle Boiago (5’8″, G, McMaster commit, 2012), weren’t about to go out with a whimper in the last game for many of them, prior to starting any post secondary career aspirations.

“It was really emotional. We have been playing with these girls and against them for around 10 years and we wanted to beat these Underclassmen,” said Boiago.

The Seniors’ change in game plan forced turnover after turnover leading a quite noticeable shift in momentum in their favor throughout the Third and the remainder of the game. That shift was almost assuredly aided by the absence of the Underclassmen’s Shay Colley, who made the decision to sit out the Second Half as to not provoke a previous hand injury that is on the mend.

Danielle Carriere (5’9″, G, Saginaw Valley State commit, 2012), Dakota Whyte (5’8″, G, Wisconsin commit, 2012)
and Boiago were the prime suspects, applying the pressure that resulted in the turnovers and changing their team’s fortunes. The Seniors finally caught the Underclassmen and overtook for good, early in the Fourth Quarter, en route to their eventual 82-69 victory.

After the game, in a nice touch, Boiago received a her MVP awards from a JUEL graduate in UMass Forward, Kim St Pierre. The 2012 All-Star standout received a stylized, metallic game ball and a unique, JUEL All-Star Game branded, commemorative skateboard deck, each signed by all of the players. Remaining humble, Boiago fully recognized the magnitude of her achievement, amongst such a deep field.

“It’s an honour. There’s so many great players out here and we worked together and my teammates got me the ball to make it happen.”