Eighty-one standout athletes have converged on North Central Missouri College in Trenton for the 2012 Lions All-Star Basketball Classic tonight and tomorrow (June 1st and 2nd). Four girls teams and four boys teams representing Lions Clubs from across northern Missouri will meet for a day of practice, tonight's awards banquet, and a total of eight games where an eventual champion will be crowned.

Participating on the Girls PURPLE team are Tory Wood of Gallatin, Kendle Schieber of Jefferson, Myia Weston of Lafayette, Taylor Zimmerman of Maysville, Tori Ingram of Mound City, Gailynn Kelly and Morgon Knorr of Savannah, Blair Million of South Holt, Robynn Gard of Stanberry, and Alexa Taff of St. Joseph Christian. The PURPLE team will be coached by Eric Fairchild of Rock Port and Ryan Madison of Lafayette.

Representing the Girls GOLD team will be Michaela Daniels of Hale, Cassy Moppin of Mid-Buchanan, Paige Evans and Jocie Glaze of Norborne, Devan Swisegood of Salisbury, Quincy Bevelle, Caitlin Cramer, Cori Locker, and Cortney Roberts - all of Southwest Livingston, and Samantha Comer of West Platte. Michael Lock of Norborne and Brian Upton of Southwest Livingston will coach the GOLD team.

Members selected for the Girls WHITE team include Rebecca Geib of Craig-Fairfax, Saige Johnson of Gilman City, Ashley Merrigan of Jefferson, Beth Crosser of Meadville, Rachel Thomsen of North Harrison, Nicole Larabee of North Nodaway, Rachel Runde of Michelle Schulte of Northeast Nodaway, Natasha Selby of Ridgeway and Chandler Newman of Winston. Coaches for the WHITE team are Vance Proffitt of Northeast Nodaway and Tom Hogan of Ridgeway.

The final Girls team is the BLACK team, coached by Greg Keith of Polo and Joe Unternahrer of Tarkio. Players are Shelbi Stimpson of Grundy R-5, Caitlyn Atterbury of Keytesville, Brooke Byland and Holly Wilmarth of Maryville, Kaylen Holcer of Meadville, Ali Ramsey of North Nodaway, Jonna Stottlemyre of Polo, Courtlin Osborn of St. Joseph Christian, and Tarkio's tandem of Michelle McEnaney and Lacie Peregrine.

Of note are that two of the girl's coaches this weekend have accepted open coaching positions at Trenton and Princeton for the 2012-2013 school year. Southwest Livingston's Brian Upton will replace Quentin Albrecht as girl's basketball coach at Trenton, while Rock Port's Eric Fairchild will replace Brent Mitchell as head coach of the Princeton Lady Tigers.

The boys PURPLE team will be coached by Luke Cox of Tarkio and Roger Johnson of West Nodaway. Members are Cory Bower of East Buchanan, Mike Tupica of Mid-Buchanan, Jeff Atkins and Lucas Schawang of Mound City, Zach Lemar of Nodaway-Holt, Brett Perkins of North Harrison, Ryan Graeff of Osborn, Kevin Luke of Stanberry, Chris Niles of Tarkio, and Sage Jones of West Nodaway.

Representing the boys GOLD team are Brandon Taylor of Braymer, Brent Bush and Kolby Regan of DeKalb, Brandon McNeely of East Buchanan, Mason Ward of Gilman City, Eli Kipp of Hamilton, Clayton Schieber of Jefferson, Keaton Duncan of Meadville, Jeremy Lance of Mid-Buchanan, and Bryce Wiederholt of Northeast Nodaway. Coaching the GOLD team are Ryan Nichols of DeKalb and Zane Tanner of West Platte.

Making up the boys WHITE team are Dalton Owen of Braymer, Michael Fleshman of Cameron, Charles Miller of Jefferson, Tyler Walter of Maryville, Lee Young of Meadville, Jordan Morrison of St. Joseph Christian, Keegan McGinness and Austin Norris of Trenton, Gary Eads of Tri-County, and Todd Harding of Worth County. Coaches for the WHITE squad are Jeremy Austin and Adam Clark, both of Trenton.

The boys BLACK team will be coached by Tim Cool of Chillicothe and Rory Jackson of North Andrew. Team members are Jacob McKiddy and Nic Voorhies of Chillicothe, Cody Baker of Hale, Eric Farley of Kearney, Pride Chase of Norborne, Cody Edwards of North Andrew, Forrest Hicks of St. Joseph Christian, Tyler Peterson and Ryle Williams of Savannah, and Myles Dustman of Tri-County.

The featured speaker for tonight's (Friday night's) awards banquet of the Lions All-Stars Basketball Classic is no stranger to the basketball court or to the Lions organization. Cori Elms graduated from Cameron High School in 1993 and that same year, she was selected to play in the Lions All-Star Basketball Classic. She not only played in that game, but her two free throws were the deciding factor in her team’s victory.

Cori continued her education and graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 1997. Not finished learning, she headed north and received a second degree from Old Dominion University in 1999.

She began her thirteen year coaching career at Maysville High School as an Assistant Coach for varsity and middle school. Her head coaching career began at Buchanan County High School in DeKalb, Missouri. Under her guidance at Buchanan County, her teams set a 176-75 record that included five Conference championships, four District championships, two Sectional championships, two Quarterfinal championships, a third place finish in 2004-05 and the state title in 2005-06. She has spent the last two years coaching the Lady Bulldogs at East Buchanan High School in Gower.

Cori returned to the Lions All-Star Basketball Classic in 2006 as an Assistant Coach and again in 2007 as a Head Coach. She also coached the Missouri Hall of Fame Game in 2006 and the Missouri Challenge in 2011. She was named the St. Joseph News Press Coach of the Year in 2005 and the Missouri Girls Basketball Coach of the Year in 2006.

Cori and her husband David reside in Gower, Missouri with their 2-year old son, Reed.

The Lions All-Star Banquet will be held on Friday evening, June 1 at the Ketcham Community Center of North Central Missouri College in Trenton. The 6:30 banquet will be a part of a two-day event featuring over 95 stand-out high school athletes from throughout north Missouri. Banquet tickets are available at $15.00 each and may be purchased at the door.

On-the-court action will begin Saturday morning with the Girls purple team meeting the gold team at 9 o'clock, followed by the Girls white and black teams dueling at 10:30.

Boys play begins at 12 noon with the Boys purple team playing the gold team, with the white and black teams playing at 1:30.

The girl's consolation game will be at 3:00, with the boys at 4:30.

Championship games are at 6 o'clock Saturday night for the girls, and 7:30 Saturday night for the boys. Admission for the day is $6.00 for adults for $3.00 for children ages 6 through 12. Children under six will be admitted free. The admission cost is for one or all eight games of basketball action.