BOYS

 

B12.1

 

The 12-1 boys had a phenomenal weekend (as they seem to do in every tournament, can the season just be one big tournament?), finishing undefeated in the “rounds”, with solid wins over Kilsyth 3, Nunawading 3, West Adelaide 1, Diamond Valley 2 and Knox 4. We headed into finals with a cross-pool game against Kilsyth 4 (who were better than Kilsyth 3), but great defence and some of our best teamwork in offensive transition saw us get over the line by 14 points. Heading into the grand final, we found ourselves matched up against a division 1 SA team in Central Districts 1. With both teams being undefeated, the game started slowly, with neither team getting much of a lead. However, late first half and start of the second, some excellent interior defence saw us get up by 14 points with 13 minutes remaining. We held strong against the late charge from Central Districts and managed to take the cake with a 34-20 win. A much better defensive and well-rounded team performance over the weekend, making for a super happy coach. Thanks to all the parents, especially TM Maggie, and congratulations to all the boys for their victory. Also, an extra congratulations to Robinson He for winning grand final MVP. (Conor Mathews – coach)

B12.2

Whilst we didn’t get a win on the scoreboard over the weekend, we played some great basketball in patches and were unfortunate in many cases late game, having several narrow losses. The boys battled hard all weekend against teams from higher divisions, but with injuries and hence lack of numbers just struggled to get over the line. Thanks to Tony and all the parents for their commitment over the weekend, definitely some great lessons we can carry into the back end of our Friday night season. (Tom and Luke – coaches)

B12.3

The first game in the tournament saw the boys facing Central District Lions at 8:00am in Kilsyth, and any initial concerns of if they were awake and ready were quickly removed as they ran over them 49-26, playing very well overall.

The second game proved difficult as we faced a tough Melbourne Tigers 3 team that were a significantly higher grade than us on Friday nights. After a slow start the boys learned that the weekend wouldn’t be as easy as the first game, and ended up losing 16-39.

We bounced back after the second game, to face Waverley 3 in a close game, that we ended up winning 30-25.

Another early game on Sunday morning proved to get the better of the boys as we were down by 15 with 5 minutes to go against Melbourne 5. Despite their best efforts to bring the game back, we ended up losing 39-44.

We made it to the semi-final and faced yet another Melbourne Tigers team in Melbourne 4. After being neck and neck the whole game with constant lead changes, we were not able to close out the game, end score being 32-35.

Regardless of the final result the boys played good basketball all weekend, and continually showed improvement.

Thanks to TM Anna for making sure everything ran smoothly and parents for their support over the weekend. (Rye & Jaden – coaches)

B14 BA

 

This under 14s composite team was predominantly composed of last season’s U12-1 boys, plus a domestic player to give us enough to have a team. We had a great weekend, finishing with 2 strong wins over Coburg 2 and Forestville 2, a draw with a much taller and older Hornsby team, and a close loss to Eltham 4 which saw us trade baskets the whole game and just get a bit unlucky down the stretch. I was very impressed with the ability of the boys to player cohesively as a team, as they are spread across 4 different teams now, and we only had 1 x 45 minute training session together prior to the tournament. We were undersized in every game, but played up-tempo and with a lot of grit to chip away at opponents. I am very happy with how the weekend unfolded and hope I get the chance to coach all these boys again in the future. A big thankyou to Sue, our TM, and all the other parents for spending 2 days (years?) at Casey Stadium over their long weekend. (Conor Mathews – coach)

B14 RED

Camberwell Red was a combined team entered into the tournament with players from 1s to 5s making up the team. The fixturing saw us have all of our games at Casey Stadium with three other Camberwell teams. The first game was against Bulleen 5, the boys started well with an 13-2 lead before Bulleen came late however the boys were able to withstand Bulleen’s late run and come away with a 29-22 victory. The second game we played an inform Kilsyth 5 team who had won five of their last six Friday night games, the game was a back and forth affair before Kilsyth pulled away to an insurmountable 10-point lead.  The third game of Saturday saw us up against Sutherland, they were a lot bigger and the most physically team we came up against in the tournament. The boys kept fighting and found themselves up 4 points at half time, however Sutherland proved to be too strong and won by 12 points.

Sunday brought new hope as the boys had started to gel in the previous three matches even if the ledger didn’t show it. Once again back at Casey for the fourth game of the tournament against Central Districts, the game once again was a back and forth encounter, however Central jumped out to an eight-point lead earlier in the second half however the boys rallied really well fought back and tied the game with ten seconds left and after a great defensive position where the game ended in a draw. Having filled up on burgers and chicken wings the boys were full of energy for the final game. Our final was once again a back and forth affair with the biggest lead of the game only being 3 points, with David Rooke and Michael Walton providing plenty of bench hype the boys were up and about. After some very impressive play from the boys they were denied a second win due to a buzzer beater to tie the game by Casey.

A huge thank you to all of the parents who cheered on the boys throughout the weekend, as well as to the boys (Matt, Cooper, Tom, Riley, Savi, Archie, Jono, Sam, Tuna) you guys were awesome to coach, so thank you.  (Stephen McGuinness – Coach)

B14 GOLD

We entered a combined team into the tournament with players from all 5 U14s teams. It was a great opportunity for the players & parents alike to socialise with members of the other teams we don’t typically spend a lot of time with. The tournament started off with a frosty early Saturday morning in Casey which seemed to suit the team as we got off to a great start with a 10 point win over Bulleen 4. Harry had a huge game with 24 points, scoring at will against the smaller Bulleen team. Yves rose to the occasion early on with 8 points off strong drives from the perimeter. After the game we went off to Sporting Globe for a team lunch & some bonding time while watching the NBA finals.

In our 2nd game we faced a strong Hawthorn 4 side who are in met 4 on a Friday night. We stuck around against a tougher opposition in a low scoring game & even managed to take the lead 11-10 a few minutes into the 2nd half. Unfortunately they ran away with the game with some fantastic pressure defence & we went down by 15 points. Our final game Saturday was up against the Inner West Bulls, a team located in the suburbs of Sydney. They were a very tall & athletic team which we found tough to stop on defence as they ran away with a 21 point win.

We played Eltham 3 first up on Sunday morning. We competed well against them holding a lead until late when they ran over the top for a win. In our final game of the tournament we beat Dandenong by 9 points. We were all over them from the start of the game playing with great defensive pressure then attacking with aggression & confidence on the offensive end. We went up 38-19 with just a few minutes to go before they finished off with the last few baskets of the game. Highlights of the game were Zeno hitting 2 long jump shots then following up with 2 huge blocks on opposition 3 point attempts. It was great to see everyone contribute to the win in the last game with a good scoring spread & good team passing.

Playing against tough opposition over the weekend gave the boys valuable experience to take back to their regular Friday night games. All 3 of our combined U14s teams showed strong improvement over the 2 days & rose to the challenge well. Thanks to all the parents for spending their long weekend down in Casey supporting all the U14s teams. The coaches really appreciated the strong turnout of players willing to play in the tournament as well as the support all weekend. (David Rooke – Coach)

GIRLS

 

U11 Development Girls

The u11 Development girls had a fantastic tournament, making the semi-finals. They had a narrow loss to the Academy side, but had good wins over Coburg and Southern Tigers. In the final they played Moe who were bigger  and older, and had beaten them by 20pts the previous night. They fought very hard, and for a fair portion of the game looked capable of causing an upset, but the added experience and height saw Moe pull away for a 10 pt win.

U12 Development Girls

Both U12 development sides were placed in divisions higher than we had entered. Why? Only the tournament can answer that, however both sides fought hard through the tournament and had the opportunity to test themselves against established representative sides.

The Development 1 team didn’t win a game unfortunately, but despite this only lost by a few points in each game. Their ability shone through, with some fantastic team and individual performances. Every game was close and often we hit the front only for the structures and set-plays of the opposition to give them the advantage by the end of the game. The girls showed in the brief experience of a tournament that they are all more than capable of playing representative basketball.

The Development 2 side had a very tough introduction to the tournament hitting a Blackburn side sitting in the top couple of their rep division and who played full court man nearly the whole game. They then followed up against two other sides sitting in the top five of their division in rep. Despite this, the girls kept fighting and gradually increased their scoring output and reduced the opposition’s score at the same time. Against Hawthorn who had beaten two of the sides we had played earlier, the girls did a fantastic job, sticking within striking distance for much of the match. Finally in the last match against Southern Tigers, the girls were rewarded for their efforts with a fantastic win. Well done girls.

Thank you to Paul, Prue, Rach, Sarah, and all the team managers and parents for putting your time into a busy weekend. (Editor’s note: thanks to Duncan for his coordination and coaching of the teams).

G14.3

CONGRATULATIONS to the 14/3 girls who won their grand final and were undefeated in 7 games over weekend!

It was amazing to watch each and every team member play their best and play outstandingly as a team. The played consistently all weekend and had some well-matched competition in round 4 where they managed to win the game by 2 points against Ivanhoe Darebin Knights and by 6 points in round 5 against Waverley.  They sailed through the semi-final and met Diamond Valley 6 in the grand final.  They played intense defence so kept their opponents score low, with a grand final score of 33-9.

Most of all the team had a lot of fun and learnt how well they can play together.  THANK YOU to our coach Bianca and to Prue who coached the girls throughout the tournament and  thank you to Sam Jones for her help on the bench.  All were absolutely invaluable with their encouragement and coaching. (Connie Gerdsen, Team Manager 14.3).

 

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