Former Western Tech girls basketball coach Heather DeWees will be the head coach at the new Manchester Valley High School in Carroll County next winter, but this weekend she may be looking well into that team’s future.

Her 8-year-old daughter Mackenzie DeWees is competing Saturday in the 8/9 year-old girls division of the Elks National Hoop Shoot in Springfield, Mass. Mackenzie, a third grader at Ebb Valley Elementary School, won the central regional championship last month by hitting 23 of 25 shots from 11 feet (shortened from the usual 15 feet for the younger division).
She is one of 12 contestants in the national competition.

Mackenzie, who plays travel soccer, basketball and softball for North Carroll Rec. and Amateur Athletic Union basketball with the U-9 Sureshots, will get a big sendoff tonight with a party at the Westminster Elks Lodge.