Five avid Sedona basketball players, ages 8 to 13, will ring in the new year Saturday, Jan. 3, with one goal in common.
They each hope to advance to the Arizona state Hoop Shoot competition in Camp Verde after winning best shooter in their respective age group Dec. 13 at the Sedona Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot.
Mary Claire Westervelt, a seventh-grader at Big Park Community School, was the day’s top shooter at Sedona Red Rock High School, making 20 of 25 free throws to win the girls’ 12- to 13-year-old age group.
“Nobody else in any division came close to that,” said Tod Christensen, Sedona Elks Lodge member and director of the Hoop Shoot. “I want to single out the Big Park girls and boys basketball teams. Combined, they supplied 75 percent of all the participants.”
Westervelt, who lost the local shoot by one shot last year, will attempt to buck the standard set by older sister Liza — now a freshman at SRRHS. In 2012, Liza Westervelt was a shootout away from advancing to the National Hoop Shoot from the 12- to 13-year old girls age group at regionals in Las Vegas.
Fifth-grader Kylie Kincaid, a starter on the Coyotes’ girls A team along with Westervelt, joined her in the winners’ circle by edging Brianna Sleeman in the girls 10- to 11-year-old age group.
For the full story, please see the Friday, Dec. 26, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
