FT. WAYNE, Ind. -- This year's Nancy Rehm Border Wars gave basketball fans in attendance yet another split last Saturday at Saint Francis University's Hutzell Center as the Indiana Boys had no problems for the second year in a row in dealing their Ohio counterparts a 103-88 defeat led by Boys MVP from Harding Michael Stevenson's game-high 20 points as four other Indiana All-Stars pitched in with double-figure scoring.

The Ohio Girls came back to win 62-60 on a last second buzzer beating put-in by Azia Bishop who rebounded Maleeka Kynard's miss at the end.

"They (Indiana) went four down (in the post) and Maleeka (Kynard) drove, I just crashed the boards and went up strong," said Bishop who a 6'3" will be playing ball at Kentucky and was the Girls MVP with 8 points and 7 rebounds.

It appeared early on that Indiana may sweep both games. The Girls raced out to an 11-0 early lead and despite being down by 17 points in the first half (33-16) the Ohio gals appeared to regain momentum at the end of the first half when Kasie Brittenham (Lake High School) hit a very long three-pointer at the buzzer that bounced off both rim and backboard before finally dropping in for the visitors and leaving them down only 10 points (37-27) at the intermission.

Like Indiana did in the first half, Ohio started the second half on a 10-0 run to tie the score at 37-37. It was back and forth till the final minute. Brittany Johnson of Fort Wayne Southside hit two free throws to tie the score at 60-60 before Kynard drove to the basket and Bishop rebounded and put in the game winner.

When asked about how important Brittenham's three-pointer was in the first half, Ohio coach Ken Brooks simply said "Big time. She banked it in and all those kids from Indiana like I told the coaches of Indiana, it was a great game. It was a great high school game for our kids to end on and go on to their college careers."

"In the beginning we had a little bit of the jitters, but by halftime we knew we had to come out and play hard," added Bishop.

Kristen Klausing was the only Ohio player in double-figures with 10 points.

Johnson led all scorers with 14 points. Carroll teammates Ciara Geiger and Lindsey Schaefer both had 12 points while Luers' Briarra Young rounded out Indiana's double-figures scorers with 11 points and won the three-point contest for the girls.

Schaefer going to Grace College also had nine rebounds, but also defended the game's MVP to only 8 points and 7 rebounds despite giving up up almost four inches in height.

"Well, I kinda knew coming in about the size. The challenge was making my feet move and beating her to the spot. I was moving her before she was moving and I tried not to get frustrated on defense to avoid contact."

"We had a great start. We made shots early and brought a lot of energy and they missed some shots. They had some really good looks in the first half that didn't go in and that was kind of the reverse in the second half," stated Indiana coach Dave Miller from Concordia who also will coach the Indiana All-Stars versus Kentucky in June.

"Any time you put an all-star team together on short notice and everyone is good on their own teams and now they have to come together and now maybe they are not the primary players, they get into team roles, so that is interesting part of an all-star game. How everyone is willing to fill their roles and share the basketball."

"It always has been a competitive game. They always battle down the line all the way," stated game organizer Tom Rehm and father of the all-star series namesake.

Nancy Rehm was a 1980 graduate of Bishop Luers that averaged 17.8 points per game and 6.2 assist per game her senior year for the Lady Knights. She spent a semester at William Penn College before transferring home to Indiana Tech where she averaged 13 ppg in one of the Lady Warriors best seasons.

She was murdered in February 1982 attempting to keep two men from stealing her snowmobile on campus. Posthumously, Nancy Rehm was name to the 2005 Indiana Hall of Fame Basketball Silver Anniversary Team and made the Hall of Fame again as an individual in 2009. Her # 23 jersey is retired at both Indiana Tech and Luers.

"My daughter would have been embarrassed to think all this took place because of her because she was an outstanding basketball player," reminisced Rehm.

"She enjoyed shooting the basketball, but she would rather make the pass then shoot the ball. Many times she only shot the ball nine, ten, eleven or twelve times a game. One time I think she shot 15 times and most games she was anywhere between six to ten assists. She would have been a tremendous scorer, but it wasn't her game. She would rather pass the ball."

One thing Rehm wanted to point out was that he didn't start the all-star series.

"I didn't start this. We had a softball team we sponsored and they came to us shortly after she was murdered and asked what could they do. I said 'nothing'. So the next day they came back 'how about us having a tournament?' so it started out that way. They ran it and I really don't remember much from that first year because it was April and she had just been murdered in February."

With Rehm in charge the next year it became a week-long tournament for local teams until Indiana changed the rules on off-season tourneys. Rehm then became even more involved starting with the annual Ohio vs. Indiana for the girls and then later adding the boys game. After about ten years, Rehm wanted to put Nancy to rest and stop doing the series, but longtime sponsor the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette interceded and pointed out all the good that had come from this event.

Rehm pointed out that about 125 scholarships are given out annually for all the kids involved, whether they had a scholarship or not before the game and McDonald's Ronald McDonald House, Gus Macker Basketball and lately Athletes With Purpose have joined the Journal Gazette as game sponsors.

Tom Rehm also has helped coach some local teams as a shooting coach. In an eight-year span, Luers won four state titles, he has served in the same capacity at Saint Francis and later won three more state titles at Canterbury before stepping away last season to spend more time with his wife who has cancer.

"They've told me I have more (state championship) rings then anyone in the state," grinned Rehm at the end of our interview.

Besides Mr. Rehm's knowledge of basketball, the fact that he has made it possible for student/athletes to showcase their talents through the Nancy Rehm Border Wars is an incredible service for the youth and something to be very proud of. A very fitting tribute to the memory of his daughter.

As far as showcasing talents?

The Boys MVP Stevenson got hot early with four three-pointers in the first half (14 points total in opening half) including an incredible bank shot to lead Indiana to another rather easy win for the second year in a row. Stevenson indicated he has so far had little interest shown in him so far was hoping his 20 points and MVP may have opened some peoples eyes.

"I haven't had any offers really at all. Hopefully, this was a breakout game and will give the college coaches something to look at," stated Stevenson who arrived late and missed the team picture because he was playing in another basketball game at Harding earlier in the day against the alumni as Harding's Senior Night was can celled. Stevenson left at halftime of that game to make it to the Nancy Rehm game.

Ohio led 2-0 at the start and that was their last lead of the contest when Stevenson answered with his first three-pointer. Indiana All-Star Nic Moore (Warsaw) added 14 points, Kasey Oetting (Concordia) scored 13 points, Nick Lewis (Snider) had 11 while Northside's Antonio Wilson had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds in addition to winning the slam dunk contest.

As a team, Indiana made 22 of their 36 shots (.611) in the second half.

"I thought we defended pretty well , but I thought we were pretty talented," stated Indiana's coach Kevin Leising from Bluffton.

"I felt like we were a little bigger then Ohio and I was worried about that. We had Antonio and Big Mike (Wiersema from Canterbury), now we have an inside game that they really don't have. I thought our kids played really well together. They took really good shots. All I told them is I don't care who takes the shots, but let's make sure it is the guy that is open and I thought I could count on any of them."

Former Northrop Girls coach Dave Riley who won the state championship in 1986 with the Lady Bruins won the Nancy Rehm Award.