Future Gophers gather for all-star games

Future Gophers basketball players Kiara Buford of St. Paul Central, Jackie Voigt of Park of Cottage Grove and Brianna Mastey of Becker highlight a list of 40 of the top girls' basketball players who will compete in the Minnesota Girls' Basketball Coaches Association Clash of the Classes, a four-team tournament this weekend at Schoenecker Arena on the University of St. Thomas campus.

Teams are divided up according to the class in which their high school team competed last year. Buford and Voigt will play for Class 4A and Mastey for Class 3A. Semifinals are Saturday at 6 and 8 p.m. The championship will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $6 for students and $8 for adults. (See today's Scoreboard on Page C11 for the team rosters.

Team Minnesota is among 24 squads participating in the Chicago Showcase, a premier boys' hockey event. Minnesota improved to 2-0 in the event with a 4-3 victory over Illinois on Thursday after an 11-3 thumping of New York on Wednesday. The event concludes Sunday.

Among the players on Minnesota's roster are first-team Star Tribune All-Metro selections Joe Phillippi (goalie, Hill-Murray) and J.T. Brown (forward, Rosemount). See www.ahai2.org/show case/ for score updates.

• Tia Gaffen, a 6-1 junior from Wayzata, has changed her college volleyball commitment from Georgia Tech to California. The Golden Bears, who advanced to the Final Four in 2007, scouted Gaffen closely at a recent Junior Olympic National Qualifier in Indianapolis. She is expected to join them in 2009.

• Breck swimmers Sammi Husband and Will Orlady signed letters of intent Tuesday to attend the University of Pennsylvania and USC, respectively, next year.

Buffalo senior Michael Sicora has been chosen as one of four winners of the United States Tennis Association's 2007 Bill Talbert Junior Sportsmanship Award.

The award was given to junior players who exemplified sportsmanship in tournament play. Sicora will be honored at a ceremony as part of the International Tennis Federation Hall of Fame induction ceremonies July 12 in Newport, R.I.

Sicora is ranked No. 1 in the Boys 18s division in both singles and doubles for USTA Northern Section. He won the boys' high school singles championship in 2006 as a sophomore and will play college tennis at Northwestern.

After an unexpectedly lengthy hiatus because of poor spring weather, Preps Plus will return Tuesday. As usual, we need your help. Here's what we're looking for:

• Athletes of the Week: Nominations are taken until 5 p.m. each Sunday. Please include the athlete's name, school, year, sport, position and a recap, with statistics, of his or her performance from the previous week.

• Baseball and softball: leaders in these categories -- batting average, home runs, RBI and runs scored for hitters, win-loss record, ERA and strikeouts for pitchers.

• Track and field: the top times or distances in each event for the honor roll.

• Lacrosse: scoring and goalkeeping leaders.

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