News

PHOTO: Craig Dingle, Melbourne Sports Photography.

14.1 Girls

The 14.1 Girls (above) went in with big goals leading into the Classic. We set our standards high knowing we had a tough pool, having not seen any of our opposition before we went in with positive mindsets and the idea we can just focus on us and our brand of basketball.

Saturday morning, we played a tough Traralgon. We started the game strong but couldn't really extend our lead throughout the game. We happily took a 12-point win and knew we had work to do to play our best basketball.

The next two games we came up against West Adelaide and Penrith. Our defence across the board was fairly consistent but we just couldn't find our groove when it came to scoring in the half court. We won both games but knew we could still play better as a group. 

We qualified on top of our ladder and had made the top eight for the tournament, something we were very happy to tick off. We had a great game against Knox. Having played them a couple of times, we knew a bit more of what to expect and the girls executed instructions perfectly. I was proud of our team defence and our willingness to work as a "unit". We won that game by
15 and had made the top four.

Coming up against Casey, we knew if we played similar defence to the morning game, we would be in with a red-hot crack. We pushed Casey right to the end but unfortunately, their outside shooting got us in the end. While we slowed them, we found it challenging to consistently get great shots. We lost that game by 10 points in the end, but credit to the girls, we were within two-three points right down to the last few minutes. A game the girls should certainly be proud of and have belief that we're right there with the best. 

We had Dandenong in the Bronze Medal game. A game we led for most of the game, they hit a three with about two minutes to go and we couldn't recover. We locked in for defence and committed to what we put out there but unfortunately, we just couldn't get across the line in the end. 

Finishing fourth is certainly something to be happy about. We are so proud of this group and although we didn't medal this year, the girls' brand of basketball, IQ and commitment they show each game is certainly something to be proud. No doubt this group has a bright future, both heading into the back end of the season and going on beyond 14s. 

Thanks to all the parents and Lou, our TM, for all the support of this wonderful group. It truly was a tournament to remember!

– Head coach Cara Jeffers.

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14.1 Boys

The Under 14 Boys had a great experience at the National Junior Classic.

Despite tough losses to Knox and Norwood on the Saturday, the boys returned to form on Sunday with a close win against a Sutherland team that continued to hang around and a well-rounded victory over Norths Bears.

Although they went down to South Adelaide on Sunday night, a second close win – this time over Central Districts – got the team into an 11th-placed finish.

The atmosphere was nothing like the boys have experienced and they adjusted well to the high intensity of the weekend and will take plenty of learnings into the VC season.

Thanks to all those that supported throughout the tournament, team manager Damien and assistant coaches Brendan and Nathan.“ 

– Head Coach Tom Denovan.

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18.1 Boys

The 18.1 Boys (below) finished with three wins and three losses at the NJC, coming in 10th place.

We kicked off with a narrow 70-68 to Nunawading (which ended up finishing fifth). A fantastic demonstration of resilience that saw us delete a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to tie the game with four minutes remaining, but not quite keep the momentum going to win.

We backed up that game with another strong performance against SA state champion Forestville. After a slightly sluggish start, we opened up our scoring in the second half, ultimately finishing with a 72-48 win.

Our first of three games on Sunday saw us take on North Bears, who were also 1-1 through Saturday's pool games. A great first-quarter effort saw us up six at the first break, and 13 made three-pointers kept us competitive for the full 32 minutes, but unfortunately we couldn't quite keep up with North's physicality, and we fell short, losing 70-55.

Heading into the back-end of the weekend playing off in the shield division (ninth-16th), we re-aligned our goal to aim for a ninth-place finish. We began shield play with a 70-63 win against SA state silver medallist Norwood; a game where we managed to survive a late Norwood run to get us back to .500.

Our 8.30pm Sunday game against Ballarat, a team that had beaten us by one point last Friday, proved to be our best game of the weekend. Great unselfishness saw us end the game on a 13-0 run to win 67-54.

Our sixh and final game against Manly Warringah was a classic end-of-tournament game by both teams – lacking excitement. We traded buckets for most of the game, but unfortunately fell into foul trouble in the fourth and Manly got over the top of us, 62-56.

A big shout-out to the boys as the first Under 18 Camberwell team to qualify for the Classic, particularly considering only three of the boys have played in one before.

We look forward to continuing to "sharpen our axe" in the back end of the season and make a run into VC finals.

– Head coach Conor Mathews.