Four girls’ basketball seniors had the opportunity to play in their jerseys one last time while representing PV at the Iowa Illinois Senior All Star Game on Mar. 18 at Augustana’s Carver Center.
The PV athletes made up four of the 11 players representing team Iowa from the Mississippi Athletic Conference in the 20th annual Iowa Illinois Senior All Star Game. The All Star game features athletes on both the Iowa and Illinois side of the Quad Cities.
The athletes selected were seniors Adrea Arthofer, Macy Beinborn, Mallory Lafever and Carli Spelhaug. The four were strong members of the varsity basketball team that fell just short of qualifying for the state tournament at their final game in late February.
With the game taking place the Monday after spring break, the selected athletes had a minimal amount of time to prepare after their time off. Senior Carli Spelhaug shared about their work heading into the game. “We had one practice at our high school the day before in order to get some shots up and run through the offense we would run,” Spelhaug said.
On the day of the game, Spelhaug and Beinborn were on the starting lineup with Arthofer and Lafever staying as reserves. All four played throughout the game, helping team Iowa to win a close game of 60-56. Though the game served as a fun way to have some of the star senior players back on the court, the players see it as more than that.
The All Star game allowed the athletes to play alongside people they’ve played against all through high school. “I loved getting to finally play with the other players rather than against them. We all knew each other from playing against one another for so long, so finally getting to play together and play for the state of Iowa was something special,” said Spelhaug.
This game also served as the last time for the four to go out in their Pleasant Valley uniforms. After many impressive seasons from all four in varsity basketball, Spelhaug was grateful for the experience and opportunity. “It was a great opportunity in order to put that Pleasant Valley jersey on one more time. Also getting to play with Mal, Mace, and Adrea again was great and so much fun.”
With the beginning of a new chapter right around the corner for all four athletes, this game served as a fitting conclusion for their high school basketball career.
