Already fond of the way her high school career ended – with a third-place finish at the state tournament – 2007 Free State High graduate Lauren Kimball will get one final chance to represent the Firebirds on the basketball court tonight in Topeka.

Kimball, a 5-foot-7 point guard, was one of 24 girls from the state selected to play in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association boy/girl all-star game on the campus of Washburn University. She will join Tonganoxie High’s Ali Pistora on the North squad.

“It was kind of a surprise to me,” Kimball said. “But I’m looking forward to it. It’s one last time, I’m getting one more chance to represent my school and my team, and I’m very excited about that.”

Kimball is no stranger to all-star games. Earlier this year she participated in a similar contest in Olathe, where she was coached by Free State coach Bryan Duncan. However, since then, she’s done very little on the basketball court.

“I’ll be honest,” she said. “I haven’t touched a basketball since the last all-star game I played in, so I’m just looking forward to the opportunity to play one more time and to have some fun at the same time.”

That much is all but guaranteed. Duncan plans to be in attendance and expects the other two members of last season’s three-headed monster – Jenna Brantley and Kelsey Harrison – to be in the stands cheering for their former teammate.

“The last all-star game was the only time I’ve played basketball with Jenna and Kelsey sitting in the stands,” Kimball said. “So that’s a little bit weird. As far as I’m concerned, they deserve to be here just as much as I do.”

Duncan agreed, but said Kimball earned her way onto the team with her abilities as a pure point guard.

“She’s a tremendous athlete and, most important, she’s a very natural point guard,” Duncan said. “It’s very difficult to find that in high school basketball.”

Duncan speculated that the recent success his program has encountered helped Kimball land a spot on the team. She’s one of just five players from Class 6A on either girls squad.

“Lauren’s kind of a product of a very good team,” Duncan said. “But at the same time she was a big reason for our team being that good. This honor shows how much our program has grown in the last few years. As coaches, we always harp on team stuff, but it’s great to see your kids get individual honors, as well.”

The honors don’t stop on the basketball court for Kimball. She’s already been accepted into the Master of Architecture program at Kansas University.

While tonight marks the final game of her competitive career, Kimball plans to deliver the kind of solid and steady performance that helped guide the Firebirds to the state tournament hardware this spring.

“I’m just going to go out there and play like I know I can,” Kimball said. “I just want to be consistent and hopefully not have too many turnovers and stay away from the travels.”

Tonight’s game will tip off at 6 p.m. in Washburn’s Lee Arena. The girls’ game will be followed by a boys contest, which is scheduled to begin at approximately 8:15 p.m.