By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

Recently, the Sand Rock Wildcats have seen their share of basketball players compete in the North-South Basketball All-Star games.

So what makes senior shooting guard Kaitlyn StClair’s selection for this year’s girls contest all the more special?

It marks the rare occasion of a brother-sister duo from the same school making it in back-to-back years.

Her brother, Arkansas State preferred walk-on Jacob StClair, played for the North squad last year. He scored 12 points in the North’s 101-91 win over the South.

Now, the younger StClair sibling is hoping to leave her mark for the North in this year’s girls game, to be played Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Montgomery Multiplex at Cramton Bowl. She’s coming off a junior season in which she averaged 20.7 points, 5.9 boards, 3.6 assists and 2.9 steals for the Lady Wildcats (18-14).

And it doesn’t hurt Katelyn StClair’s feelings that the North squad is going have help from a respected rival on the court. Spring Garden senior post player Chloe Rule will join her on the court as an all-star selection.

Rule averaged 10.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, two steals and a block for the Class 1A state champion Lady Panthers last season.

Both players have spent much of their summer preparing for the game.

“Of course I want to do well, but I want to keep the winning streak going for the North side,” Katelyn StClair said. “We’ve won it several years in a row. I’m just going to be a team player and hopefully we get that win.”

“It really is a big honor,” Rule said. “I feel like I’ve worked so hard this past year, and I’m really excited for all the stuff we’re going to do down there. I don’t think I’m too nervous. I feel like I’ve been up against some of the best, so I feel like I’ll be able to hold my own.”

Both players said they’re looking forward to playing with each other for a change.

“We’ve been texting each other (about the game),” Katelyn StClair said. “Instead of being rivals we get to be teammates this time. I think that will be a good experience for both of us.”

“I’m very excited to be playing with Kaitlyn,” Rule added. “She’s a great shooter, good, strong rebounder. She hustles hard. I’m excited to see us both on the court together instead of against each other.”

Sand Rock girls basketball coach Lisa Bates said she’s proud of Katelyn StClair for earning her all-star spot and not being content living in her older brother’s shadow.

“It’s definitely fun to see her succeed and get some recognition,” Bates said. “It’s tough being the little sister of somebody who can shoot like her brother and get all the recognition he has. She’s trying to make her own name and be her own person. They’re two totally different players, but they do support each other and help each other to get better. I think that’s something special.”

Bates said the only comparison she can make with the StClairs unique situation is when she coached Cherokee County Sports Hall of Famer and former all-star selection Taylor Burt.

“Taylor absolutely lived in the gym, and it was a family thing with the Burts too,” she said. “With the StClairs, it’s just fun to see mom (Emily) and dad (Daniel) rebounding for them and putting them through drills. That’s definitely unique. I’ve had a lot of hard-working girls who put time in, but it’s fun to see the whole family get involved and really sacrifice a lot of time and energy and money into making them better.”

“We definitely spend a lot of time in the gym together,” Katelyn StClair said. “Having two people from the same school go back-to-back, I think it’s very cool. I don’t think that’s something that happens very often.”

“Seeing (Jacob’s) work ethic definitely rubs off on me. He can shoot from far back and drive, and I’ve kind of had to learn that too. Dad does our workouts, so we both do the same things. We have (shooting) competitions sometimes. Sometimes he wins, but sometimes I do too.”

Katelyn StClair hopes her family’s all-star selections won’t stop with her and her brother. She said her younger cousins have shown an interest in the game of basketball as well.

“They come to the gym with us, so maybe one day one of them at least will be playing in the North-South game,” she said. “I hope to see that.”

As for Rule, this is the first summer she’s experienced working out while at Spring Garden. She transferred in from Hokes Bluff just prior to school starting last year.

“It’s very intense. I love all of it,” Rule said of the Lady Panthers’ summer workout routines. “I wish I had been able to do Spring Garden summers more than just once. I love the people I’m working with. We get up real early, and I feel like it gets me ready for the rest of the day.”

Spring Garden head coach Ricky Austin said Rule has adapted to the Lady Panthers’ system very well.

“Her arms don’t look like toothpicks now,” he joked.

Austin said when Rule arrived at Spring Garden last year, he felt he had to be careful with her.

“As a volleyball player in prior years, she kept having problems with her shoulder popping out. That probably was because there wasn’t enough muscle there, but we have not had that problem at all. I think a lot of it is because of strength training. It’s not that she wasn’t in a good strength program. I think it’s just that she’s matured. Now her body is able to carry more muscle. I’m most definitely excited about what we couldn’t do last year in the summer and the progress that we’ve made. The summer that she’s gone through this year, I can see her window is wide open. She’s still growing. She’s still improving. We most definitely have seen improvement.”

Just like she has adapted at Spring Garden, Austin feels Rule will pick up things quickly with her fellow North All-Star teammates.

“I think the (all-star) practices she’ll go to and the game itself, they’ll get to witness what I witness every day,” Austin said. “She’s stepped in and has become part of what we are immediately. Things may have even gotten closer since she’s gotten here. I think that can happen on the all-star team.

“There are a bunch of girls there who want to win, and I think Chloe is going to step in and do the same thing. They’re all going to step in and want to win. We do not want the South to beat us. We want to win. I think Chloe will represent immediately that she’s a winner.”

Austin said it would please him to see both of Cherokee County’s basketball connections make their mark on the court Tuesday.

“I would love to see a Chloe Rule pick-and-roll with Kaitlyn StClair, and Kaitlyn dump it to Chloe and Chloe score a bucket. Then on the flipside, I’d like to see a post feed by Kaitlyn and a Chloe Rule post-up and a kick out to Kaitlyn for a 3-point shot,” Austin said. “That would make me very happy to see that happen in the game.”

StClair and Rule aren’t the only area athletes competing during All-Star Sports Week. Cherokee County High School senior golfer Ellie Cothran and Piedmont senior baseball second baseman McClane Mohon will also represent the North in their respective sports.

Cothran finished runner-up to Trinity’s Virginia Anne Holmes in the Class 4A-5A girls individual state golf tournament at Opelika’s Grand National course back in May. She collected two rounds of 75 for a two-day total of 150.

The North-South All-Star Girls Golf match begins Monday morning at 9 a.m. at Arrowhead Country Club in Montgomery.

Mohon batted .390 with 12 doubles, two triples, two home runs, 19 walks, 11 stolen bases, 49 runs and 25 RBIs for the Bulldogs (27-10) last season.

The North-South All-Star Baseball doubleheader is Monday at Riverwalk Stadium beginning at 4 p.m.

Tickets are $5 per all-star event.