St. Marys senior Jayssa Snelick was voted the District 9 League girls basketball MVP for the 2023-24 season, as the league announced its all-stars and major award winners.
The boys MVP was Brookville’s Jack Pete.
Elk County Catholic won the league title with a record of 9-1 on the boys’ side, while ECC, Punxsutawney and St. Marys all went 8-2 to share the girls’ crown.
Other awards for both the boys and the girls are Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year.
In addition to garnering MVP honors, Pete also won Defensive Player of the Year, while teammate Luke Burton was named Rookie of the Year and Elk County Catholic’s Jordan Wasko Comeback Player of the Year.
Wasko tore his ACL toward the end of the 2022-23 regular season and spent most of the offseason rehabbing. He returned better than ever this season, averaging 12.4 points per game to help lead the Crusaders to the District 9 Class 1A title and a first round PIAA playoff win.
Other major award winners on the girls’ side were Elk County Catholic’s Sami Straub (Defensive Player of the Year), Bradford’s Haley Keane (Rookie of the Year) and Brookville’s Kerstyn Davie (Rookie of the Year).
Keane averaged 12.1 points per game during the season, tops for the Lady Owls.
In addition to being ECC’s point guard, Straub was a defensive stalwart, generating a number of steals for the Lady Crusaders, many of which led to easy transition points.
Wasko was one of two ECC players named to the boys’ team, joining Wil Wortman, while Bradford also had two selections in Jake Franz and Chase Wineberg.
Franz averaged 13.1 points per game this season for the Owls, while Wineberg also averaged double figures at 10.4.
Four Elk County Catholic players — Straub, Emily Mourer, Lucy Klawuhn and Sydney Alexander, were all voted to the girls team. Klawuhn and Alexander both surpassed the 1,000-point milestone this past season. It’s a group that led the Lady Crusaders to the District 9 Class 1A title and a first round PIAA playoff win.
Snelick (19.7 points per game), was joined as an all-star by teammate Maura Caskey.
The full teams, along with the total number of votes for each player, are listed below.
D9 LEAGUE BOYS ALL-STARSJack Pete, Brookville (47)
Wil Wortman, ECC (46)
Tyson Kennis, DuBois (41)
Jordan Wasko, ECC (33)
Noah Weaver, Punxsutawney (23)
Jake Franz, Bradford (21)
Kellen Haines, Brookville (19)
Maddox Bennett, DuBois (18)
Cam Thompson, DuBois (18)
Chase Wineberg, Bradford (14)
Others Receiving Vote: Lance O’Neil, ECC (13), Quinn Gavazzi, St. Marys (12), Anthony Nedzinski, St. Marys (11), Colby Nussbaum, ECC (6), Noah Kengersky, Punxsutawney (4)
Jayssa Snelick, St. Marys (50)
Danielle Griebel, Punxsutawney (43)
Emily Mourer, ECC (33)
Maura Caskey, St. Marys (31)
Lucy Klawuhn, ECC (24)
Sami Straub, ECC (22)
Eden Wonderling, Brookville (20)
Sydney Alexander, ECC (20)
Emily McMahon, Punxsutawney (20)
Avary Powell, Punxsutawney (20)
Others Receiving Vote: Tori Newton, ECC (16), Lynx Lander, DuBois (13), Kalie Dixon, Bradford (8), Alexa Schneider, St. Marys (8), Molly Hanslovan, St. Marys (4)
