Union’s Ava Mills (25) scores a layup in front of AGWSR defender Catelynn Koop (12) during the NICL Senior All-Star Basketball Game Friday, March 15, in Reinbeck. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

REINBECK -Union’s Ava Mills and East Marshall’s Morgan Neuroth added additional honors to their basketball resumes last Friday night – in their final high school appearances, the two were named East MVP and West MVP, respectively, during the NICL Senior All-Star Games played at Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School.

While the West girls came up short against the East girls, 62-46, Neuroth finished with 15 points and led a late charge for West in the fourth quarter.

West trailed 54-38 heading to the fourth, which was contested under “Elam Ending” rules with the first team to hit the target score of 62 points being declared the winner.

East got stuck on 59 points as Neuroth attacked the basket on the other end, but Mills finally closed out the West with a 3-pointer. Mills racked up 31 points — AGWSR’s Ava Olson added 17 points for the West.

“We got one last shot at all playing together,” Neuroth said. “It was really fun to see people that we played all year in our conference and just work together and have fun.”

In what can be a busy time of year for many of these athletes trying to get ready for spring sports, there were no practices ahead of time so G-R head coach Amber Gerringer and the West girls called it on the fly, with all 10 girls for both squads putting in a full 30 minutes plus the fourth quarter target score scramble.

“We honestly all just met each other today,” Neuroth said. “But it was fun to just go play and have fun and just go throughout the whole game and talk to everybody while we were playing.

In the 3-point competition, Neuroth shared a win with G-R’s Madison Resendez when both made four baskets in the final round of competition. Neuroth started hot with seven baskets in the first round before coming back to Earth.

“In the finals, you just gotta be clutch,” Neuroth said.