The Northland Pines Basketball Association (NPBA) held it’s 3rd Annual Northwoods Skills Challenge on Saturday, November 2nd. The event offers something for everyone in the family.  The day started with 16 teams playing in a three on three tournament that crowned winners in three divisions.  After the tournament, there was a Free Skills Challenge for the boys and girls 4th Grade & Under run by volunteers Jim Beyer and Greg Gremban.  “Jim organized a great event for the kids that really allowed them to work on their dribbling and passing while having a ton of fun.” Stated Greg Gremban.

Throughout the day, the parents and kids were able to take part in a silent auction, raffles, concessions, they were able to play games on the big screen TV and X Box purchased by the St. Germain Lion’s Club (those then get raffled off at the end of the night)and of course there was a ton of basketball to be played.   

The Main Event was the Northwoods 3rd Annual Skills Challenge.  It was kicked off with the smooth vocals of our own Northwoods Idol, Madeline Consoer, 29 boys and girls qualified for the Main Event and it wasn’t over until over 40 additional Trophy’s were handed out include this year’s MVP’s Hadley Kruse and Blake McCann. [Over 70 trophy’s were donated by the Eagle River Rotary Club for events throughout the day including the 3 on 3.]  In between there was music, raffles, six ties that needed to be decided, pressure, laughs, dancing, and our most popular event, The Shooting Stars.  

As always, 100% of the funds generated from the event and the sponsors are used for the volunteer run Northland Pines Youth Basketball Program (K-8thGrade).  This, their only real fundraiser of the year, will help fund items like uniforms, basketball camps, equipment, buses, referees, and everything that goes into running the program.  

5th & 6th Grade Division:

GIRLS:

Lay-Up Challenge:

1st Place – Nora Gremban - 4

2nd Place – Brianna Croker - 3

3rd Place – Grace Weber - 2

Free Throw Challenge

1st Place – Danielle Halverson – 1 Point (won shoot off)

2nd Place – Nyah Millis – 1 Point (won shoot off)

3rd Place – Nora Gremban  - 1 Point

Skills Challenge:

1st Place – Brianna Croker – 45.5 Seconds

2nd Place – Grace Weber – 53.1 Seconds

3rd Place – Nora Gremban – 55.5 Seconds

BOYS:

Lay-Up Challenge:

1st Place – Clarke Mouw – 9 (Won Shoot Off) *

2nd Place – Joey Sullivan – 9 (Took 2nd in the Shoot Off) *

3rd Place – Colby Kruse – 9 (Took 3rd in the Shoot Off) *

Free Throw Challenge:

1st Place – Clark Mouw – 5 Points *

2nd Place – Nick Greenberg – 4 Points

3rd Place – Quinn Lamers – 2 Points

Skills Challenge:

1st Place – Joe Misina – 30.4 Seconds *

2nd Place – Quinn Lamers – 33.1 Seconds

3rd Place – Jack Gremban – 33.4 Seconds

* Denotes All Time Record for that Event in that Division.

# Denotes Top Score of the Day for that Event, Regardless of Age or Sex

7th & 8th Grade Division:

GIRLS:

3 Point Shoot Out:

1st Place – Hadley Kruse – 5 (Won in a Shootout)

2nd Place – Jacqueline Smith - 5

3rd Place – Kelsey Bellman - 3

Lay-Up Challenge:

1st Place – Jacqueline Smith – 9 (Won in a Shootout)

2nd Place – Hadley Kruse - 9

3rd Place – Cassie Gauthier - 8

Free Throw Challenge

1st Place – Hadley Kruse – 5 Points  #

2nd Place – Cassie Gauthier – 2 Points (Won sudden death shootout)

3rd Place – Payton Calix  - 2 Points

Skills Challenge:

1st Place – Hadley Kruse  – 34.9 Time

2nd Place – Jacqueline Smith – 37.8

GIRLS MVP SCORING

Hadley Kruse – 2013 MVP – 37 Points

Jacqueline Smith – 27 Points

Cassie Gauthier – 12 Points

Payton Calix – 5 Points

Kelsey Bellman – 5 Points

* Denotes All Time Record for that Event in that Division.

# Denotes Top Score of the Day for that Event, Regardless of Age or Sex

7th & 8th Grade Division:

BOYS:

3 Point Shoot Out:

1st Place – Blake McCann – 11 Points *

2nd Place – Clint Curtis – 9 Points

3rd Place – Ryan Peterson – 8 Points

Lay-Up Challenge:

1st Place – Blake McCann – 11 *

2nd Place – Jack Hayes - 10

3rd Place – Mike Scholl - 9

Free Throw Challenge:

1st Place – Blake McCann – 4 (won in sudden death shootout)

2nd Place – Sam Smith - 4

3rd Place – Austin Preuser - 3

Skills Challenge:

1st Place – Blake McCann – 27.8 *#

2nd Place – Aaron Krause – 30.1

3rd Place – Andrew Gill – 32.1

BOYS MVP SCORING

Blake McCann – 2013 MVP – 40 Points

Aaron Krause – 13 Points

Jack Hayes – 10 Points

Mike Scholl – 8 Points

Austin Preuser – 8 Points

Sam Smith – 7 Points

Clint Curtis – 7 Points

Andrew Gill – 5 Points

Ryan Peterson – 5 Points

Carlos Gutierrez – 3 Points

Tony Gutierrez – 3 Points

Dylan Haagen – 3 Points

Hunter Rose – 3 Points

* Denotes All Time Record for that Event in that Division.

# Denotes Top Score of the Day for that Event, Regardless of Age or Sex

SHOOTING STARS - 2013

1st Place – Team Gary Schwenn [Liz Bohnen, Sami Hinton] – 26.22*

2nd Place – Team Gary Ridderbusch [Lauren Lenz, Zach Kluever] – 32.40

3rd Place – Team Mariah Haberman[Carly Ridderbusch, Michael Rosinski]

4th Place – Team Bill Weber [Courney Heller, Nick John] – 46.8  (1st Year in

the event but making a strong case to be invited back.  This time would have won last years

event.)

Other Teams:

Team Jim Swenson [Sydney Kamentz, Zach Parker]:  48.13 – 5th place

Team Ben Myer [Maria Wait, Marcus Edwards]:  54.09– 6th place

4th Grade & Under Division:

GIRLS:

Free Throw Challenge

Jacqueline Smith - 2

Skills Challenge:

Rylie Skarbeck – 49.4

BOYS:

Free Throw Challenge:

Joey Sullivan – 5 Points

Skills Challenge:

Joey Sullivan – 31.4 Time

5th & 6th Grade Division:

GIRLS:

Hot Shots:

Hadley Kruse - 28

Lay-Up Challenge:

Hadley Kruse - 6

Free Throw Challenge

Hadley Kruse - 3

Skills Challenge:

Micayslon Crawford – 39.15

BOYS:

Hot Shots:

Sam Smith - 31

Lay-Up Challenge:

Nick Cato – 9 Points

Colby Kruse – 9 Points

Clarke Mouw – 9 Points

Joey Sullivan – 9 Points

Justin Sullivan – 9 Points

Free Throw Challenge:

Clark Mouw – 5 Points

Skills Challenge:

Joe Misina – 30.4 Seconds

7th & 8th Grade Division:

GIRLS:

3 Point Shoot Out:

Lilith Schuman – 13 Points

Hot Shots:

Lexi Smith – 40 Points

Lay-Up Challenge:

Lexi Smith  - 11 Points

Free Throw Challenge

1st Place – Hadley Kruse – 6 Points (perfect score)

Skills Challenge:

Lexi Smith – 33.8 Time

GIRLS MVP SCORING

Lexi Smith – 2012 MVP – 43 Points

BOYS:

3 Point Shoot Out:

Blake McCann – 11 Points

Hot Shots:

Andrew McGill - 52

Lay-Up Challenge:

Scott Young – 11 Points

Kevin Gauthier – 11 Points

Blake McCann – 11 Points

Free Throw Challenge:

Kevin Gauthier – 6 Points (perfect score)

Skills Challenge:

Blake McCann – 27.8 seconds

BOYS MVP SCORING

Kevin Gauthier – 2011 MVP – 47 Points

SHOOTING STARS