Emily Haas of Douglas High was nominated on Jan. 10, along with 15 other Nevada girls basketball players, for the 2nd annual McDonald's All-American game to be played March 26 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Jami Harris, Delicia Jernigan and Sidney Orndorff, all of Mineral County High School in Hawthorne, were also nominated. Other Northern Nevada players nominated were Wooster's Brianne McGowan, Reno's Elizabeth Fox and Jessica Stewart, McQueen's Cristi Crofts and Traci Graham, Galena's Joanna Hixon and Reed's Erin Jackson.
Haas, who helped the Tigers to last year's state title game, is a two-sport star who has earned a volleyball scholarship to the University of San Diego.
Over 2,500 of the top boys and girls players from across the nation were nominated. That list will be cut down to 200 (100 boys, 100 girls) on Feb. 17 with the final teams being announced on ESPN's Sportscenter on Feb. 27.
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Reno High's David Padgett and Wooster's Julian Hatcher were the only two Northern Nevada boys players to be nominated for the game. Padgett, who has signed with Kansas, is expected to become the first Nevada player ever to participate in the McDonald's All American game, which will be played for the 26th time on March 26. Most recruiting services consider Padgett, a 6-foot-11 center, as one of the top 15 seniors in the nation.
Hatcher, a 5-foot-8 guard, is averaging a Northern Nevada best 30.2 ppg this season for the Colts. The top Las Vegas players on the list are Cheyenne's Lorenzo Wade and Chris Fuller and Green Valleys' Ron Dunlap and Mitch Platt. Platt has signed with the University of Oregon.
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The Carson High boys basketball team cracked the Las Vegas Sun's top 10 poll for the first time this season. The latest poll, which was released on Feb. 6, has the Senators at No. 10. Reno is ranked fourth, Reed is sixth and Hug is eighth in the poll, which is put together by Las Vegas Sun reporter Adam Candee, with help from Sparks Tribune sports editor Dan Eckles.
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The Carson High girls team, though, has moved up two spots in the poll. The Senators moved up from eighth to sixth in the latest poll. Reno is ranked second behind defending state champion Centennial of Las Vegas. Reed is ranked third, Fallon is fourth, Galena is sixth, Douglas is eighth and Wooster is ranked 10th.
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Here's a disturbing note of the Las Vegas area. Last Friday night, the Cheyenne girls basketball team walked out of the gym last Friday night when their game against Centennial was still in progress, according to the Las Vegas Sun reported. The Bulldogs, who are the defending state champs, were leading 77-21 with 4:49 left in the game when Cheyenne coach Marcus Conrad called a timeout. Conrad, who felt the Centennial was running up the score, rounded up his team and left the gym.
Centennial coach Karen Weitz, though, denies her team was running up the score. The 23-1 Bulldogs are beating their opponents by an average of 36 ppg.
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Cabrillo College, where former Carson High boys basketball star Vince Inglima is playing, is struggling this season. The Seahawks are only 10-15 overall and 1-4 in the Coast Conference (South). Individual statistics for Inglima aren't on the school's website.
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LeBron James, the top rated high school basketball player in the country, is back on the court again after an appeals court judge reversed a decision that would have made him ineligible for the rest of the season.
James only missed one game and that was last Sunday. His replacement was Brandon Weems, a 5-foot-7 guard who scored only four points in a 63-62 win over McKinley High of Canton, Ohio. Weems became the first player to ever start for James in his high school career, according to Sports Illustrated. James is expected to be the No. 1 pick this year's NBA draft.
Jeremy Evans is a Nevada Appeal sportswriter.
