FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Kirtland Firebirds netted to play in All-Star games

ROSCOMMON – Only the best players are invited to play in any conference’s end-of-season all-star game, and such is the honor for several Kirtland Firebirds.

The honorees were announced Monday by the Michigan Community College Athletic Association for the 2005-2006 basketball season and Firebirds Lizz Stempki, Sal Kabara and Tony Brown are among them. Other Firebirds were honored by the MCCAA, but will not necessarily play in the All-Star games.

The MCCAA All-Star teams will face off Sunday, March 12, at Lansing Community College. The women’s game will begin at 2 p.m. and the men’s at 4 p.m.

Stempki, of St. Ignace, was named to the All-MCCAA Eastern Conference Second Team, as well as the All-Freshman Team, making her eligible to play in the women’s All-Star game.

A 5’10” post player, Stempki led the Lady Firebirds in scoring this season with 411 points, helping her team to a 13-17 season – the most wins the Lady Firebirds have attained in a season since athletics were introduced to the school in 2000.

Other Lady Firebirds receiving honors from the MCCAA for their play this season are freshmen Emily Henion, of Frederic, Rena Barnett, of LeRoy, and Chelsey Williams, of Houghton Lake, who were all given Honorable Mention awards.

Henion is ranked eighth in the nation by the National Junior College Athletic Association in free throw accuracy, having shot 85.3 percent this season, and is No. 13 for assists, averaging 6.103 per game.

From the men’s team, freshmen Brown, of Battle Creek, and Kabara, of the Central African Republic, were named to the All-MCCAA Eastern Conference Second Team and the All-Freshman Team and will both play in the men’s All-Star game.

Brown and Kabara helped the Firebirds to a 14-16 season, with the team averaging 92 points per game total scoring. Brown was ranked No. 21 by the NJCAA for individual scoring, averaging 21 points per game and Kabara was 22nd with a 20.643 scoring average. Brown was also 15th in assists, averaging 6.933 per game.

For a complete list of this year’s MCCAA honorees, go to www.mccaa.org.