All-Star

ST. HENRY - Allison Siefring was a key part of Edison State Community College's all-time best season.

The St. Henry graduate is now an NJCAA Women's College Basketball All-Star.

Last week, the news broke that Siefring was one of 50 student-athletes selected to the team. The list is comprised of 33 Division I, 12 Division II and five Division III athletes across 42 various NJCAA institutions who are entering their sophomore years. Siefring was the lone Ohio player on the team.

She received word of the news from her coach, Tim McMahon, via a group message with the team.

"I was so shocked and didn't really see it coming," Siefring said during a Tuesday afternoon telephone conversation.

McMahon may have saw it coming, though.

After all, Siefring did lead his team in every way possible. She was named Ohio Community College Athletic Conference Player of the Week six times during a season that saw her average a double-double with 13.4 points and 11.8 rebounds per game - the latter of which ranked fifth in the country.

Siefring became the only player in Edison history to earn the honor, McMahon confirmed.

"Allison is very deserving of this award," the coach wrote. "She had a very good freshman year and we can't wait to see what this next year has in store for her."

The 2019-20 season couldn't have been much better for Siefring and the Chargers.

They reeled off a program-best 28-3 record while winning a share of the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference championship for the first time in program history and later capturing the Division II National Junior College Athletic Association District 1 title.

But Edison's hopes for a long postseason run were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Days prior to the Chargers' opening game of the NJCAA Tournament against Pima Community College, players were informed that the postseason had been canceled. Edison had won 10 straight entering the contest.

Siefring has been back in St. Henry since, working on her game weekly. She has stayed in contact with her teammates, but can't officially get back in the gym with them until October.

"We definitely want to keep our record where it was at or go undefeated this year," Siefring said. "We've got a lot of goals that we want to meet. We set them last year at the beginning of the season and at the end of the season, we checked off all five."

The pandemic prevented the 13th annual NJCAA Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-Star event from happening this year. Either way, the initials A.S. don't just stand for Allison Siefring anymore. They stand for all-star.

"I didn't anticipate it at all, because I just thought I was playing to have fun," she said. "Then, I guess, it's just like all the hard work we put in kind of paid off."