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Star invite gives Storbakken shot to play with best

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Photo by Kyle Bursaw

Whitney Storbakken, a 2009 Craig High School graduate, was named to the Division 1 South high school girls basketball all-star team, here she practices in the new Craig High fieldhouse.

JANESVILLE — Whitney Storbakken never got the chance to play basketball in the magnificent and massive new Janesville Craig High School fieldhouse.

The 2009 Craig graduate’s impressive four-year basketball career ended with back-to-back All-Big Eight Conference honors, but even practices weren’t allowed in the fieldhouse during the construction, and Cougar teams won’t play games there in the immediate future, either.

But, as a member of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division 1 South all-star team, Storbakken is getting the chance to christen the new facility and showcase her basketball skills among the state’s best.

“It’s awesome,” Storbakken said of the fieldhouse. “I would’ve loved to have played in here.

“And I know that all my (South) teammates are really impressed with it, too. It’s unbelievable.”

Storbakken has always been an outstanding free-throw and outside shooter. She hit more than 90 percent from the foul line for her career and had 33 three-point baskets her senior year.

Craig girls basketball coach Mark Marsden, who is also the Division 1 South head coach, said Storbakken fits in very well with the rest of the all-star team.

“Whitney has the green light to shoot any time she wants on Saturday,” Marsden said of the 26th annual North/South game with tip-off scheduled for 10:45 a.m. at Madison Area Technical College. “And as strong as our post players are, she’s going to get a lot of opportunities to shoot.

“It’s nice to see Whitney blend in with this group, and to watch her play where she isn’t asked to do so many things like she was in high school. She can just go out and play.”

Storbakken, who will try out for women’s team at UW-La Crosse, also is also getting the chance to play for her father, Kerry.

The Craig sophomore coach is serving as one of Marsden’s assistants, along with Craig junior varsity coach Mike Morgan.

Kerry said having the opportunity to work with his daughter makes the week even more special.

“No kid works harder than Whitney,” her father said. “You only have to tell her to do something once, and she does it.

“Her mother (Donna) and I thought her last game was in Oregon in regionals, and that was pretty tough, but now we’re going to get a chance to watch her play Saturday with the best players in the state. It’s pretty special.”

One player that has been more than special this week is Milwaukee King’s Sarina Simmons. Marsden called her “the best girls high school player,” he’s ever seen, and Whitney Storbakken said the Marquette University recruit is at a different level than everyone else.

Simmons, an all-state first-team selection who backed out of a University of Connecticut offer because she would’ve had to sit out a year, spent time at the end of practice Tuesday dunking the ball.

Janesville Parker’s Catie O’Leary, another first-team all-state selection, missed the first three days of practice in order to fulfill a requirement with the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball program. She joined the team Wednesday night along with Louisville recruit Rachel Story of Milwaukee King, who was also forced to miss practice time due to a previous commitment to the Cardinal program.

Whitney Storbakken said with so much talent on hand, it bodes well for a South victory on on Saturday.

“We’re going to win. That’s why you play,” Whitney said. “It’s been so much fun to be around everybody and to be on the court with so many talented players.”

A very talented South squad, with which Whitney Storbakken fits right in.