22 of the area's best honored on hoops squads

It's no surprise that Galena High placed a total of five players on the All-Sierra Nevada basketball teams.

Caitlin Anderson, Caitlin Crofts and Langley Iverson were all named to the team after helping to lead the Galena girls basketball team to the Northern 4A title and the NIAA 4A State Tournament. Galena's boys had two players named to the teams in Luke Babbitt and Eric Maupin.

Carson had three players named to the All-Sierra Nevada teams. Nicole Scott and Rosella Nunez were named to the girls team while Adam Houghton was named to the boys squad.

Scott was an All-Northern 4A first team pick and Houghton was an All-Sierra League first team and All-Northern 4A second team pick.

Dayton's boys, which finished as the NIAA 3A State runner-up for the second straight year, had two players named to the team in Jordan Stokes and Erik Hopper. Rounding out the boys team were Douglas High's Keith Olson, South Tahoe's Jared Wood, Fallon's Donny Kidd, Yerington's Ryan Rife, Truckee's Jason Chapman, North Tahoe's Michael Forte and Incline's Oytun Yagci.

Two players from Whittell were also named to the girls team in Katrina Kacirek and Jessica Woods, who helped lead the Warriors to the NIAA 2A State Tournament. Rounding out the girls team were Douglas High's Monica Knight, Fernley's Becky Murphy and Fallon's Katarina Olivo.

Not surprisingly, all of the players on the All-Sierra Nevada teams are well-represented on the All-Northern and All-state teams. Anderson and Crofts were Northern 4A co-Players of the Year and Babbitt was also the Northern 4A co-Player of the Year with Hug's Armon Johnson.

The All-Sierra Nevada teams are selected by staff from the Nevada Appeal, the Record-Courier, Fallon's Lahontan Valley News, the Tahoe Daily Tribune, the Tahoe World, the Tahoe Bonanza and Truckee's Sierra Sun. Players from schools who are covered by these newspapers on a regular basis are eligible for the teams.

BOYS

Adam Hougton, Carson: The point guard averaged 13 points and five assists a game. He was named to the all-Sierra League first team and all-Northern 4A second team.

Keith Olson, Douglas: An all-Northern 4A first team pick for the second straight year. Olson averaged 18.1 points per game. He showed much improvement as a rebounder and defender. Ran the floor well and was nearly unstoppable when he got the ball anywhere underneath the basket.

Jared Wood, South Tahoe: An all-Northern 4A first team pick.

Jason Chapman, Truckee: The third leading scorer in Northern Nevada, averaging 22.3 points a game. He also averaged 6.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game.

Michael Forte, North Tahoe: He was one of Northern Nevada's leading scorers, averaging 17.7 points a game. An all-state 3A first team pick.

Jordan Stokes, Dayton: He averaged 19.2 points and 9.1 rebounds a game. An all-3A state second team choice.

Erik Hopper, Dayton: While the stats may not show it at 10 points and four assists a game, his all-around play at point guard earned him all-state 3A first team honors. He was also an excellent defender.

Ryan Rife, Yerington: An all-3A state first team choice. The Lions' point guard was Yerington's best defender. He averaged 13 points, five rebounds and five assists a game. Rife is also a 4.0 student and helped lead Yerington to the state tournament for the past two years.

"There's no way we can go back-to-back state appearances without him," Yerington coach Daron Wildermuth said.

Luke Babbitt, Galena: The Northern 4A's co-player of the year with Hug's Armon Johnson. As a sophomore, Babbitt is already being recruited by the nation's elite programs. He was chosen to play for the United States 17-under team at the Albert Schweitzer Games to be held this spring in Germany. Babbitt averaged 25.3 points and 7 rebounds while shooting 54 percent on two-pointers and 85 percent from the foul line.

Eric Maupin, Galena: An all-Northern 4A first team pick. While Maupin averaged 8.4 points and 6.2 rebounds, the stats don't fully demonstrate the kind of force he was on the floor.

Donny Kidd, Fallon: He averaged 12.4 points, eight rebounds and two blocks a game.

Oytun Yagci, Incline: An all-Northern 3A pick.

GIRLS

Nicole Scott, Carson: Scott, who signed with Eastern Washington, was named to the all-Northern 4A first team. She was one of the North's top defensive players. She averaged 11.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, but those statistics are skewed somewhat by the fact that she saw limited action to begin the year returning from an injury.

Rosella Nunez, Carson: Nunez, an all-Sierra League second team pick, averaged 6.3 points, 2.5 steals, 1.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

Caitlin Anderson, Galena: Anderson was the Northern 4A Co-Player of the Year with Crofts. She will play basketball at Weber State. She averaged 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Caitlin Crofts, Galena: She averaged 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Langley Iverson, Galena: One of three Grizzlies to be named to the all-region team along with Anderson and Crofts, Iverson averaged 10 points and seven rebounds.

Katrina Kacirek, Whittell: She averaged a double double on the season with 15 points and 10.2 rebounds a game. An all-2A state first team choice.

Jessica Woods, Whittell: Along with Kacirek, was named to the all-2A state first team. Woods averaged 10.7 rebounds a game.

Monica Knight, Douglas: Knight averaged 15.2 points a game and was a unanimous all-league first teamer. Solid defender, contained some of the top post players in the state this season including Galena's Caitlin Anderson, North Valleys' Anita Burdick and Spring Creek's Tai Marie Jacques.

Katarina Olivo, Fallon: She averaged 11.1 points, six rebounds and five assists a game.

Becky Murphy, Fernley: She averaged 13.7 points a game.