SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - The 43rd Annual Senior Charity Bowl basketball all-star games took center stage on the campus of Penn State Schuylkill on Friday night.

The doubleheader matched the top senior boys and girls from Schuylkill County high schools.The North captured the girls game, 55-50, while the South took the boys game, 66-61.Nine Times News area athletes - three girls and six boys - played for the North squads.It was fun, fun and more fun for the one time rival players, who now were friends for a lifetime.In the girls contest, Marian's Brianna Karnish called it a great time."It was just a lot of fun," said Karnish, who scored seven points in the game. "All season long we battle each other, now were teammates for one game and it makes for a great time."The North team was led by Minersville's Adrienne Kroznuskie with 13 points. Karnish's Marian teammate Brianna Raabe also added seven points on the night getting five of those points in the first half."Yeah we were kidding each other," Raabe said about the itneraction with her new teammates. "We go-head-to-head for four years and then we are here wearing the same uniform and just having fun."Panther Valley's Chole Markovich also enjoyed the night."I had a blast with this game," said Markovich.The North buried the South into a 20-4 hole as Karnish drained a trey and a deuce to set the tone.While the North waltz to the early bulge, the South came storming back and even took a five-point lead with under three minutes remaining thanks to its leading scorer Pottsville produce Kyra Schenck, who poured in a game-high 15 points, including nine in the late rally.But the North got the ship steered back on course taking the lead for keeps on a pair of baskets by Minersville's Sarah Nawrocki and never looked back."I wish I had all these players on my (regular) team," joked North head coach William "Dapper" Lynn who coaches the Panther Valley girl's during the regular season. "There's a lot of talent on this team. It's fun to watch."Speaking of fun, one player in the boys game who seemed to be having a lot of it was Brandon Mohammad. The Marian senior drained 21 points and pulled in 10 rebounds.The only thing Mohammad didn't do for the North stars, who were coached by the Colts' John Patton, was find a way to dunk."I was waiting for him to make a dunk," ribbed Mohammad's teammate from Marian Anthony Collevechio. "I was going to boo him!"The South rallied around Pottsville's Alex Pellish, who scored 12 points, Blue Mountain's Spencer Welsh, who had 10 points."You put a bunch of kids like this together and you can see how much respect they have for each other's abilities," said Patton, who had four of his own players on the North team with Jared Paisley and Ryan Karchner joining Mohammed and Collevechio.Mahanoy Area's Mike Joseph and Shenandoah Valley's Jermaine McNeil added eight points each for the North. Paisley chipped in seven points.Also taking part in the game for the North was Panther Valley's Anthony Micholik.PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARDS ... One of the highlights of the night took place between games when the 3rd Annual Schuylkill League Player of the Year awards were presented. Kroznuskie was named POY for the ladies, accepting the award named for the late William "Babe" Conroy who was a former sports editor at the Shenandoah Evening Herald and later at the Hazleton Standard-Speaker. Conroy passed away in February of 2015. The boys award, named in honor of former Mahanoy Area coach Mickey Holland, went to a Mahanoy Area player for the first time when Mike Joseph was selected by the Schuylkill League coaches. The awards were presented by orthopedic doctors Brayford and Phillips of Pottsville.FORMAT ... The timing was slightly different than the regular season where teams play four, eight-minute quarters. Last night, the games were played with two, 16-minute halves.