There she was, Clancy ten-year-old Meredith Reider, beaming on the front page of the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
Reider, daughter of Breeann and Clint Reider and granddaughter of Alice and Dave Reider of Boulder, was smiling over a basket she made during the 3-on-3 Hoopfest in Spokane late last month. The June 30 and July 1 competition attracted roughly 200,000 people, including about 25,000 players.
By the time the event ended, Reider had even more reason to smile: she and teammates, all Clancy ten-year-olds, finished on top of the Youth Female bracket.
The seven girls headed into the fifth grade at Clancy, wearing purple Panther uniforms, won 12 of the 13 games in which they played and faced each other in the championship. Usually they all play on one team, so the championship game was really like an intersquad scrimmage with everybody winning.
Members of the team are Reider, Nelly Clevenger, Jaida Jurenka, Hannah Stevens, McKenna Pipinich, Cassidy Smith and Michaela Morris.
Reider said spending the weekend wth “my Panther basketball team and my family” was the most fun part of the trip, along with the championship game.
She said she and team members thank their coaches, Mike Morris and Dave Jurenka, for everything.
