Area AAU basketball teams compete nationally

A number of area high school basketball players made some noise on the national level this summer.

The Kessel Heat 16-under girls team went 7-3 in two prestigious tournaments in Las Vegas, reaching the semifinals of the Vision Sports Main Event in July. Then in August, that group won the championship at the Wildcat National Summer Classic in Rockford, which featured 12 teams from across the Midwest.

Team members included Rebecca Llorens (Grayslake), Alex Scarbro (Grayslake), Abbey Kirchoff (Barrington), Lauren Tiffany (Antioch), Jessica Schaefer (Prospect), Olivia Dunigan (Mundelein), Sidney Davis (Stevenson), Marrissa Petenuzzo (Prospect), Maddie Miller (Grayslake) and Lindsay Gofron (Antioch).

A pair of local 14-under boys teams qualified for the AAU national championships in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. A Rising Stars team with four players from Mundelein faced some tough competition in pool play, then reached the third round of the consolation championship.

Robert Knar, an incoming freshman at Mundelein High School, averaged 27.5 points in six games. The other Mundelein players were Sean O'Brien, Quinn Pokora and Chino Ebube. Also on the Deerfield-based Rising Stars squad were Wauconda resident Matt Mooney; Kurt Karis and Andrew McAuliffe from Glenbrook North; Jadon Brown (Zion-Benton) and Brett Buscher (Lake Forest).

The Kessel Heat 14-under boys squad went 1-2 in pool play, then were eliminated with a 1-point loss in the consolation round, despite missing some key players.

The roster included Brad Zaumseil (Barrington), Scott Nelson (Barrington), A.J. Fish (Grayslake), Tavaris Knox (North Chicago), Carter Bass (Lake Forest), Rob Vollman (Barrington), George Quall (Lake Forest), and Dylan Balogh (Barrington). Quinten Payne, whose family has moved from Schaumburg to Fort Myers, Fla., helped the Heat qualify for nationals, but had another commitment during the week of the tournament.