DeKALB – All eyes were on Emma Carpenter, 11, during her performance of the national anthem before the boys basketball game Friday night.

“I was very, very nervous,” said the Clinton-Rosette Middle School sixth grader. “It’s really hard because you have to project your voice and not start out too high or too low.”

Emma has been singing in front of audiences for about two years, but Friday night’s audience at the Castle Challenge, at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center, was the largest she has entertained. As she sang, her older brother Jake Carpenter stood with the DeKalb High School basketball team, preparing to take on Sycamore High School.