Lofink, Sova return from All-Star basketball game

This past Saturday, Thermopolis Bobcat Lizzy Lofink had the opportunity to play in the All-Star basketball game in Thunderbird Gym at Casper College.

Lofink was chosen for the honor during state when all the coaches from across the state convened to pick this year's North and South teams.

Her coach, Cory Sova, was also chosen to coach the North team, his fourth time on the sidelines.

The basketball and volleyball teams meet at Casper College and each girl is assigned a dorm room and a roommate for the four days leading up to the events.

Girls and boys basketball and volleyball all took place on the same weekend, bringing loads of fans in for the event.

The teams have just seven practices together before meeting center court on Saturday afternoon.

Sova said the South team was pretty stacked with more 4A girls than the North team which had a fair amount of 1A-2A players on it.

"Twice we (North) were down by double digits," Sova said, "but we came right back and were leading going into the fourth quarter. It's a lot of pressure, but we shut them down pretty good."

Its not all just about basketball, either.

Sponsored by the Wyoming Coaches Association and other contributors, there are two main facets to the event -- building relationships and community service.

The main speaker at their Saturday luncheon reiterated "giving back," something the girls had a chance to do between practices.

They spent time helping out with the Boys and Girls Clubs, Make a Wish and Special Olympics during the week, spending a lot of time together off the court as well as on.

For Lofink, it wasn't all necessarily about the game and she had a lot of fun working with the Boys and Girls Club doing chalk drawings with the kids on the sidewalks.

"I really liked meeting the other girls," she said. "Going from 1A-2A to 3A and now getting with all the 4A girls was an experience. Keeping up with the 4A girls was a goal, playing on their level."

So what did she do to get ready?

Well, there was a lot of working outside, running and shooting. She would get together with her other Bobcat teammates a couple of times a week at the high school, too.

Sova said in the end, it was a really good game, even though the North lost, 69-73.

"I was really proud to have Lizzy on the court," he said.