The 48 players were selected from 2,500 nominees by a committee of basketball experts. They were chosen not only for their on-court skills, but for their performances off the court as well. Coach Morgan Wootten, who had more than 1,200 wins as head basketball coach at DeMatha High School, was chairman of the selection committee. Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, who has been involved in the McDonald's All American Games since its inception, served as chairman of the Games and as an advisor to the selection committee.
Proceeds from the 2006 McDonald's All American High School Basketball Games went to Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of San Diego and its Ronald McDonald House program.
2006 Game
The game was telecast live by ESPN. Fans swarmed San Diego State’s Cox Arena for the 2006 edition of the McDonald's All American Games. A sold out crowd of 11,900 was treated to a tightly contested first game, as the Girls game kicked off the action.
Morgan Wooten Player of the Year award recipient and East Team superstar Tina Charles (Connecticut) turned in a strong performance
with 12 points and nine rebounds. But the night’s star and John R. Wooden Most Valuable Player of the Game was the West Team’s Jayne Appel (Stanford) with 12 points, seven rebounds and a great all-around performance. Dymond Simon (Arizona State) added a great offensive performance with her game high 14 points, while Amanda Thompson (Oklahoma) led the way defensively with five blocked shots. The West Team was coached by Wade Vickery of Santana High School (Santee, CA) and the East Team was headed by coaching legend Leta Andrews of Granbury High School (Granbury, TX) who became the all-time winningest girls coach in 2006.
The 2006 edition of the Girls game went down to the wire and the 80-76 margin makes it the closest contest to date. After trailing at the half, the West team put together a strong second half performance to pull out another victory, as they led the series 4-1.
^Although Harris committed to Purdue, she never played there. She was released from her letter of intent, and transferred to Xavier. After sitting out the 2006–07 season, she played four seasons at Xavier, finishing her college career in 2011.
Wednesday, March 29: 5th Annual Girls All-American Game
The Powerade JamFest is a skills-competition evening featuring basketball players who demonstrate their skills in two crowd-entertaining ways. Since the first All-American game in 2002, players have competed in a 3-point shooting challenge and a timed basketball skills competition.
Contest Winners
Allison Hightower was winner of the 2006 3-point shoot-out.
The skills competition was won by Michelle Harrison.
