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Hitchcock Co. star honored with state all-star game bid
TRENTON, Neb. -- It's not often that athletes from small-town schools in southwest Nebraska get selected to play in the annual Nebraska Coaches Association All-Star events.
Laramey Lewis, a 2012 Hitchcock County High School graduate, will get a rare chance next week to represent her community, her school and all the small towns in the southwest corner of the state in this year's all-star contests.
Lewis, a standout three-sport athlete at the Trenton school the past four years, was selected to participate in the state all-star girls basketball game Monday, July 23. Lewis, a 5-foot-8 guard/forward, will be a member of the Blue team in the girls all-star basketball contest set to tip-off Monday at 6 p.m. at the Lincoln North Star High School gym. The boys state all-star classic will follow the girls game Monday at approximately 8 p.m. at the North Star gym.
Monday will mark the 33rd annual girls state all-star game, and the boys will play for the 44th straight year.
Several other state all-star events are scheduled in Lincoln during the week. The 29th annual NCA all-star volleyball match is scheduled Tuesday, July 24, at 7 p.m. at North Star High School. The 8th annual state all-star girls softball double-header is set for Wednesday, July 25, starting at 5 p.m. at Bowlin Field, home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's softball team.
Lewis is the lone Gazette area athlete selected for any of this summer's state all-star contests. She gives her Hitchcock County teammates credit for helping her achieve the honor.
"Little schools don't get much recognition (statewide), and it's an honor to get recognized for something so big like this," Laramey said. "You have to be a pretty good team to get anyone recognized for all-state or any state honors."
The Hitchcock County girls were a little better than pretty good last year. Lewis was a leader on the 2011-12 Falcons' team that finished with a 24-3 overall record and a fourth-place finish at the Class D-1 state basketball tournament in Lincoln last March.
LARAMEY, the daughter of Roger and Lisa Lewis of rural Trenton, is the lone player from the Class D ranks on the girls all-star Blue team. Two other Class D players -- Shelby Hemmann of Amherst and Jessica Tietz of Bancroft-Rosalie --are members of the Red team for Monday's all-star contest.
Lewis and her all-star teammates were scheduled to report in Lincoln early Saturday, July 21, with two-a-day practices scheduled Saturday and Sunday in preparation for Monday's contest.
Jeff Thober of Class C-2 Ravenna is the head coach of the girls Blue all-star squad. Lewis said her coach sent a text to all the team members to prepare them for what lies ahead in their all-star experience.
"He wanted us to be ready to play instead of going down there out of shape and not having touched a basketball since whoever knows when," Laramey said. "He sent us a letter giving us a forewarning of what we were going to be doing, what we needed to be prepared for."
Lewis knows first-hand about the summer all-star experience. She played in area all-star basketball games at Cambridge and North Platte earlier this summer, and she also participated in the annual Sertoma All-Star volleyball match at McCook in mid-June.
Lewis knows she will step on the court Monday playing with and against some very talented basketball players. She noted players such as Brianna Craig, a 5-11 guard from Lincoln Northeast who is headed to NCAA Division I Kansas State to play basketball next year, and Beth Bohuslavsky, a 5-6 guard and a key player in Seward's four-straight Class B state titles who will play basketball at Fort Hays State.
REPRESENTING the smallest school on her all-star squad, Lewis won't be intimidated, and she is looking forward to a fun experience.
"I'm just kind of going to let it go and play and have fun, be glad that I'm going to be playing with such good girls," she said. "There are numerous girls going to play college ball, maybe all of them. I don't know all of them. We're going to be playing with some great talent."
Lewis played on the Cornhusker Shooting Stars AAU traveling team several summers ago, and she several of the state all-star players from that experience.
"You had to tryout to even get on that team. That team was intense," Laramey said. "I am actually playing with girls and against girls (in the all-star game) that I played with on the Shooting Stars team. Tooth and nails, it will be rough down there. Dad's been preparing me all week, telling me 'You know you're going to have to take some hits, you're going to get bumped, you're going to have to finish those shots when you're getting bumped.' We know what to expect after playing there (on the AAU team).
"When you're going into an all-star game, you're going in to play with people that want the same thing as you -- they want to win, and they want to play basketball."
LEWIS WILL TAKE her basketball talents to the next level, as she will join the University of Nebraska-Kearney women's program this fall. After competing in volleyball, basketball and track and field for the last four years, Laramey will see a different experience concentrating on basketball only at UNK.
"I really do like playing the three sports. I like being able to be with my friends," she said. "Basketball is a long season in high school, and definitely in college, so it's good to break it up with other sports. In summer it wouldn't be fun just to go to basketball camps or volleyball camps.
"College, I know what I signed on to do, I signed on to play basketball for seven months, probably. I'm having to start thinking about moving down there (to Kearney) already. Aug. 1 is when strength and conditioning starts, which is right around the corner."
LEWIS WILL see a familiar face on the other all-star squad Monday. Veteran Wauneta-Palisade head coach Roger Lauhead will coach his final game as head of the Red all-star squad. Hitchcock County played W-P several times during Laramey's prep career, and Coach Lauhead certainly can attest to the roundball talents of the Hitchcock County standout.
The state all-star teams are determined by a draft from players nominated by their respective high school head coaches.
Lewis said she received an email from Coach Lauhead earlier this summer. Lauhead told Lewis that he planned to draft her on to his Red all-star team, but Coach Thober beat him to the punch and selected Lewis for the Blue squad in the same round.
Lauhead has retired as W-P's head coach.
With the state all-star game on a Monday night, there probably won't be a big crowd of Falcons' supporters traveling to Lincoln to watch Lewis play. Laramey said she understands the logistical woes of traveling to Lincoln and back home to face going to work early the next day. Monday's all-star games will be broadcast live on NET Television, and Lewis said many Hitchcock County fans she has talked to said they will be watching TV Monday evening, supporting her and cheering her on.