The Homer High alumni challenge basketball game the day after Christmas took the cake or, rather, provided attendees with pies, cakes and crisps to take home.
While the community came out to see players from both current and past boys and girls basketball teams play, with both a silent and live dessert auction, a number went home with sweet treats of their own.
During the live auction, which was stocked by the varsity players from both the boys and girls teams, the most memorable bids were for a $100 banana cream pie and a $120 raspberry crisp, said girls basketball Coach Chad Felice.
The JV players brought the desserts for the silent auction and both auctions served as fundraisers to support the cost of running the basketball programs. Expenses such as travel to away games and tournaments costs between $14,000 and $15,000 per program, Felice said. In total, the night raised $4,200, an amount that will be split evenly between the boys and girls programs. The event also included a taco bar for all to enjoy.
“Turn out from the community was great. … On behalf of the coaching staff, thank you for coming out and supporting us,” Felice said.
Several alumni from a range of graduating classes came out to play and show their support for the current Mariners. The women played each other in the first and third quarters, while the men faced off in the second and fourth quarters. Kathyrn McCarron-Ault, Amy Drake, Shahar Maxon, Danilee Stapel, Lauren Isenhour, Reba Temple, Lindsay Layland, Maggie Koplin, Tayla Cabana and Larsen Fellows represented the female alumni. The male alumni participants included Luke Gamble, Kenneth Schneider, Brandon Beachy, Drew Brown, Phil Reutov, Travis Smith, Konstontin Reutov, Norm Anderson and Dyllan Day.
For those who would like to continue to support the Mariners, all players are now selling raffle tickets for cash prizes between now and Feb. 1. The raffle drawing will be Feb. 13 at the winter carnival with a grand prize of $2,000. Second prize will be $500 and third prize will receive $250. Tickets for the raffle can also be purchased at home games.
Anna Frost can be reached at anna.frost@homernews.com.
