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Fran Belibi, dunk contest winner, talks to High Post Hoops

Mar 25, 2019; Marietta, GA, USA; McDonalds High School All American forward Francesco Belibi dunks during the Powerade Jamfest dunk competition at Wheeler High School. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2019; Marietta, GA, USA; McDonalds High School All American forward Francesco Belibi dunks during the Powerade Jamfest dunk competition at Wheeler High School. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

A sensation speaks out.

ATLANTA — Fran Belibi reverse dunked, delivered on the alley-oop from Haley Jones and then jumped over Ashten Prechtel before slamming down another to win the 2019 McDonald’s All-American Dunk Contest in Atlanta.

The highlights have spread across social media and the forward’s Instagram account went from three thousand to 11,000 followers – and counting, overnight.

Belibi is the second woman to win the contest and the first since Candace Parker.

“It’s really an honor, there’s a lot of girls who play the sport and I know there’s a lot of girls who dunk and don’t always get the chance to show it,” Belibi said at McDonald’s All-American Media Game Day.

Belibi said she’s been working on her dunks all season, practicing more and more with the dunks she’d felt comfortable with and growing her repertoire from the three she’d known how to do a few months ago.

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“Some days, some dunks are like ‘I’m really high up here’ and some dunks I’m like ‘ah, that was not good.’” she said. “But like, a lot of times it’s just really crazy to be that high. When I jumped over Ashten (Prechtel) I was like ‘I did it. I really jumped over a person, that’s crazy.’ … it’s just a crazy feeling being up there that high.”

Belibi, Prechtel and Haley Jones will compete for the West during Wednesday’s McDonald’s All-American Game in Atlanta and Stanford starting in the fall.

Belibi and Jones tested out the alley-oop twice during team practice this week, getting it right twice and refusing to practice – or jinx it – again.

“She just rose to the occasion,” Jones said of Belibi. “All the expectations people have for her, she just broke through the roof and just did more than anybody could have ever expected. So being able to witness that and throw her a lob for one of those, it was just an amazing experience, I’m just so happy for her.”

Now whether Belibi and Jones take their alley-oop on the road to Stanford is another story.

“Obviously we’re gonna try, hopefully,” Belibi said. “But I don’t know if Coach Tara would be okay with that. I think she’ll want the layup. Especially if you’re coming in wide open, and you miss it like that, and I’m not back there to get it, it’ll just be really awkward for Haley.”

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