Adaora Elonu really must not look at the scoreboard.

Told she was in the middle of seemingly every play in the first quarter of the second of two Greater Houston Area Girls Basketball Association all-star games Saturday, the Elsik senior looked genuinely surprised.

“Really?” Elonu said. “We just wanted to get the ball out quick and run the floor, so we got the ball out quick and I ran pretty well, I thought. When we started to scrimmage, we noticed we played fast-break real well so transition became the name of the game.”

Elonu, a Texas A&M commit, scored a game-high 21 points and earned MVP honors as the Doug Gibson All-Stars sprinted to an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes and defeated the Delaune Radin All-Stars 67-51 at Fort Bend ISD’s Wheeler Fieldhouse.

“I didn’t think much of (my efforts). It just happened,” Elonu said.

Cinco Ranch’s Shantel Nwanguma added 12 points, 10 in the second half, for Gibson.

Forty-four players were featured Saturday, including Nicole Morris and Mansa El from 5A state champion Cy-Fair and Kelsey Clinch and Nwanguma from regional runner-up Cinco.

Langham Creek’s Mercedes Johnson scored a game-high 10 points in the first game, leading the Greg Bell All-Stars to a 64-53 victory against the Alaina Turner All-Stars.

This was the first year the Association held two All-Star games. In previous years, there were two 12-player teams, but this year the Association fielded more than 70 nominations, prompting them to expand.

“With more schools (throughout the region) come more talented players and therefore the two All-Star games … to honor these very deserving and talented senior basketball players,” GHAGBA president Barbara Leon said. “Our association continues to grow each year.”

In the first game, Johnson broke open many times in the first half to little fanfare but scored half her 10 points in a quick burst after halftime to turn a close game into a 16-point lead.

“We had an all-around good team and a lot of girls who played on the inside and played on the outside,” said Johnson, a Louisiana-Lafayette commit. “We had a lot of diversity. That helped a lot. It was better that we had more players who scored more points. Everybody showed why they deserved to be here. We didn’t have just one girl who did everything.”

After trailing 15-11 early, Bell’s team went on a 26-11 run in the second quarter to take command. Johnson’s third-quarter burst, in which she hit a coast-to-coast layin and a smooth right-handed layin, made it 43-27 in the first two minutes of the third.

Clinch had nine points for Greg Bell. Three players added eight points apiece.

Memorial guard Laura Lapin scored a team-high nine points for Turner, the former Westside coach. Morris added seven points.

Bay City guard Nikki Mayberry earned Game MVP honors.

Other players from the Athlete’s Connection’s coverage area included Spring Woods’ Kristen Contreras, Hastings’ Garkeiva Council, Alief Taylor’s Verinus Kalu, Westside’s Jasmine Hoskins, Bellaire’s Jasmine Hartman, Cypress Falls’ Starr Spencer, Eisenhower’s Anjelica Markray and Langham Creek’s Valerie Wood.

Awards distributed

Several teams and players were honored between games. Cy-Fair was honored between games for winning the 5A state championship earlier this month; in addition to Morris and El, players Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike and coach Ann Roubique were present.

Memorial player Ashley Sunderhaft earned third-place in the association’s essay competition. Coach Bill Cronin accepted the award for Sunderhaft.

Willis’ Monee Marquez, who is headed to Texas, won the Gordon Loucks Scholarship.

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