Ninety-six senior basketball players participated in the 47th annual Lehigh Valley Senior All-Star Classic on March 27 at Northampton Community College.

The Classic raises funds to support Via of the Lehigh Valley’s services for children and adults with disabilities while showcasing the basketball talents of the area’s student athletes.

“We’ve had really great crowds and a nice group of people who helped volunteer with the event, so our committee’s done a great job of planning the event,” said Traci Cyr, the tournaments director.

In the first game of the afternoon session, East Girls topped West Girls, 80-67.

“It’s such a fun time,” Cyr said. “With all the high school seniors having one last time to wear their uniforms and represent their school, they’re great, and we tried to make the day more meaningful for them.”

East player Marina Falzone (Nazareth) and West player Julia Roth (Allentown Central Catholic) were in uniform but on crutches, so both came out with some help from teammates to score the first points for their respective teams.

East player Kelly Leszcynski had a milestone moment when she scored her 1,000th point during the game.

“A lot of these kids missed half a season last year with COVID, and in Kelly’s case, her team was alive in the state tournament the week it was shut down,” Cyr said.

Freedom, another team that was in the middle of the state tournament at the time, was represented by Kailey Turpening and Ciana Feliciano.

Turpening had 12 points for East, and Feliciano had four points.

Northampton, who made it to the second round of this year’s state tournament, was represented by Taylor Kranzley (five points), Kylie Gilliard (11 points), and Devyn Demchak (two points) on West.

Parkland’s Zoe Wilkinson scored four points for West.

The second game of the afternoon was a 76-66 victory for West Boys over East Boys.

Whitehall’s Alex Derkits and Northampton’s Isaiah Harris had four points apiece for West.

Northampton’s Isaac Harris scored 22 points, and Parkland’s Will Meeker tallied 10 points, both for West.