SALT LAKE CITY —Angel Kent refereed her first basketball game more than 13 years ago at a high school in Utah.
“It was just me," she said. "I knew I needed to do it the rest of my life.”
Kent was one of the three referees at Friday night's Celebrity All-Star Game.
The St. George native went to the University of Utah and lived in Salt Lake City for 15 years. Now living in Missouri and working as a G-League ref, she said being back in Utah refereeing her first All-Star game ever feels like everything's coming full circle.
“I started in Utah refereeing, and now I get to do the All-Star game here and the G-League All-Star on Sunday," said Kent. "It's just fun to see that I really focused, and I really put some effort and hard work into it.”
With thousands of games under her belt, she never gets tired of running up and down the court and blowing the whistle.
“I'm on the court," said Kent. "I'm actually in the game of basketball, right? I'm not sitting on the sidelines like a coach would be, I'm actually still going to be a part. I hold the ball sometimes. I pass it.”
Getting to the G-League level took Kent years of tryouts and working her way up. People don’t realize the amount of work that goes into refereeing a game, she said.
“We are constantly watching film," said Kent. "We are evaluating plays, we're meeting as a crew to talk about different things we're seeing in the game. There's a lot of back-end work. It's not just, show up to the arena and referee.”
Kent is among few female refs in the NBA. She hopes being out on the court at the games this weekend will inspire young girls that they can do it too.
“By no means have I paved any way," said Kent. "There's many people in front of me and many women ahead that have done a lot of work, and I'm just grateful that now more of us are getting the opportunity to get on the court and work at the highest level.”
Her dream now is to one day be a referee for the NBA Finals.
VIDEO BELOW: Actors, comedians and more at Celebrity All-Star Game red carpet
