PUNXSUTAWNEY – St. Marys’ Kayla Hoohuli, Keystone’s Morgan Johnson and Kane’s Dave Kiehl were named the major All American Awards & Engraving/D9Sports.com girls’ District 9 award winners at the Alice R. Kozel Foundation banquet Saturday afternoon in Punxsutawney.
The All American Awards & Engraving/D9Sports.com All-District girls’ basketball teams were also announced at the banquet.
Hoohuli is the Player of the Year, Johnson the Rookie of the Year and Kiehl the Coach of the Year after sensational seasons.
A junior guard, Hoohuli is the Player of the Year for the second straight year, the first repeat Player of the Year since Punxsutawney’s Stacie Heberling in 2004-2005 and the first junior to repeat as Player of the Year. Hoohuli ranked second in Pennsylvania and ninth nationally in scoring at 30.3 points per game while adding 8.8 rebounds, 7.3 steals and 4.4 assists per contest. She also had 88 3-pointers and 85 blocked shots while helping the Lady Dutch to their third straight District 9 Class AAA title and to the second round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs. Hoohuli scored 30 or more points 11 times this season including topping 40 five times. That included a career-high 52 points in a PIAA win over Hampton. She was named a first-team Class AAA all-state player this past week and enters her senior season with 1,951 career points, the sixth all-time leading scorer in District 9 history.
Johnson, a freshman, was a large reason why Keystone advanced to the District 9 Class AA playoffs. The rookie averaged 15.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game while ranking seventh in District 9 and third in the KSAC in scoring.
Kiehl, in his second year at the helm of the Lady Wolves, led Kane to a 21-6 record, the AML title, a second-place District 9 Class AA finish and the PIAA playoffs for the second straight year, this despite the loss of the school’s all-time leading scorer Bree Bergman to graduation after last season.
In addition to the major award winners, three All American Awards & Engraving/D9Sports.com District 9 All-District teams were announced.
Joining Hoohuli on the first team are Johnson, Cranberry senior Hannah Heeter (20.4 ppg, 13.7 rpg, 45 blocked shots, 61.3 percent shooting), West Forest senior Geena Sneeringer (19.1 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 5.7 rpg, 3.0 apg), Elk County Catholic senior Emily Detsch (17.6 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 4.0 spg, 2.0 apg) and DuBois Central Catholic junior Miller Hopkins (14.2 ppg, 14.5 rpg, 2.3 spg, 1.9 apg).
It is the fourth all-district award for Sneeringer making her just the second District 9 girls’ player to earn four all-district honors – Punxsutawney’s Stacie Heberling is the other one. It is the third straight year Sneeringer, who finished her career as the fourth-leading scorer in District 9 history and just the fourth to go over 2,000 career points with 2,030, is a first-team selection after she earned third-team honors and was Co-Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2007. It also marks the third all-district award for Hoohuli and the third first-team honor tying her with Heberling and Sneeringer for the most first-team selections. She was also the Rookie of the Year in 2008. It is Heeter’s third all-district award and her second straight first-team selection after being a third-team choice as a sophomore, while Johnson is just the second freshman to earn first-team honors joining Hoohuli, who was first team in 2008.
Second-team award winners include Curwensville senior Tess Bloom (16.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Austin senior Emily Wambaugh (11.7 ppg, 10.4 rpg), Union junior Tina Lipps (12.4 ppg, 13.1 rpg), DuBois senior Kirsten Wilcox (13.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.3 spg), Union senior Brooke Pollock (13.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and North Clarion senior Karlee Cyphert (11.9 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 4.8 spg, 3.5 apg).
It is the second straight year Lipps is an all-district performer, as she was a third-team choice last season.
Making up the third team are Kane junior Andrea Saquin (10.3 ppg, 5.8 spg, 4.5 rpg, 3.0 apg), Coudersport junior Jenna Matzinger (11.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.1 spg), North Clarion senior Jess Tarr (15.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.4 apg, 3.0 spg), Austin sophomore Kayla Valenti (14.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 3.3 spg), Clearfield senior Madison Sopic )11.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 3.2 spg, 2.8 apg) and Punxsutawney junior Hannah Neal (11.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg).
It is the 11th edition of the All-District teams and the 10th year D9Sports.com has hosted the awards. It is also the fourth straight year All American Awards & Engraving has served as the title sponsor providing all the plaques and certificates that were awarded.
The major-award winners along with all the first-team honorees were provided a plaque courtesy of All American Awards & Engraving, while the second-and third-team honorees received a certificate from All-American Awards & Engraving.
NOTES – Both the major award winner and the all-district teams were chosen in a voting by the editorial staff of D9Sports.com after soliciting nominations and information from District 9 coaches, officials, players and fans as well as first-hand accounts of those players … All-American Awards & Engraving is located just outside of Shippenville and can be found on the web at www.onestoptrophy.com. The company’s phone number is 1-877-402-9273.
2010 All American Awards & Engraving/D9Sports.com Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Kayla Hoohuli, Jr., St. Marys
Rookie of the Year: Morgan Johnson, Fr., Keystone
Coach of the Year: Dave Kiehl, Kane
First-team All-District
Kayla Hoohuli, Jr., St. Marys
Hannah Heeter, Sr., Cranberry
Geena Sneeringer, Sr., West Forest
Emily Detsch, Sr., Elk County Catholic
Morgan Johnson, Fr., Keystone
Miller Hopkins, Jr., DuBois Central Catholic
Second-team All-District
Tess Bloom, Sr., Curwensville
Emily Wambaugh, Sr., Austin
Tina Lipps, Jr., Union
Kirsten Wilcox, Sr., DuBois
Brooke Pollock, Sr., Union
Karlee Cyphert, Sr., North Clarion
Third-team All-District
Andrea Saquin, Jr., Kane
Jenna Matzinger, Jr., Coudersport
Jess Tarr, Sr., North Clarion
Kayla Valenti, So., Austin
Madison Sopic, Sr., Clearfield
Hannah Neal, Jr., Punxsutawney