Photo by Bruce Crawford Six local Wetzel County basketball players competed in the 2017 OVAC All-Star Classic. From left are Dylan Irvin, Valley; Taylor Ludewig, Jordan Delaney, and Kelsi Chapman of Magnolia; and Aaron Heasley from Paden City.

Sixty All-Star players, including two boys and four girls from Wetzel County, put on a pair of entertaining and highly competitive games at Ohio University Eastern Campus Sunday afternoon.

The West Virginia girls had a much deeper bench than the Buckeyes, and held on to earn a 86-80 victory, while the Mountaineer boys over-powered the bigger Ohio team to earn an exciting 102-98 victory in the second game.

In the girls contest, Kelsi Chapman of Magnolia started, but was held scoreless, along with teammate Jordan Delaney and the Lumberjills Rachel Baker.

Magnolia’s Taylor Ludewig tallied seven points, that included a basket from beyond the arc, while dishing out a half-dozen assists, several rebounds and steals.

The bigger Buckeye boys team just couldn’t handle the West Virginia speed and outside shooting. The Lumberjacks’ Dylan Irvin scored six points, while Aaron Heasley from Paden City drilled a long three-point basket for the Mountaineers in a high-scoring second game.

Monroe Central’s Allison Kuhn prevailed in the 3-point shootout at halftime of the girls’ game, while Wellsville’s Justin Miller was the champion of the dunk contest at halftime of the boys’ encounter.

Along with the special award recipients announced earlier, the Ohio Valley Board of Officials presented its annual collection of awards, too. Bishop Donahue Athletic Director Donnie Murray was named the A.D. of the Year, while Cameron and River won the team sportsmanship awards for girls and boys, respectively.

During the banquet held Sunday afternoon at McLure House in downtown Wheeling, several players received formal notification of winning a scholarship. Those winners were Taylor Straughn (Bishop Donahue), Michael Scarnecchia (St. Clairsville), Taylor Ludewig (Magnolia), Lexi Brookover (Frontier), Dylan Irvin (Valley), Justyn Keyser (Bellaire), Rachel Baker (Valley), Marlo Taylor (Cambridge), Brittany Bertoia (Steubenville Central) and Josie Daugherty (Wheeling Park). All of those honorees will be recognized during next month’s OVAC Banquet of Champions.