The under 14 Great Southern Regional Basketball Academy men’s and women’s teams travelled to Perth to take on Western Australian Basketball teams from the Perth Redbacks and the Perry Lakes Hawks.

Great Southern Regional Academy programme coordinator Lindsay Stirling stressed the importance of regional academy teams such as theirs in getting experience in playing WABL teams.

“These games allow our academy players to play quality teams so they can realistically assess where their playing strengths and, more importantly, weaknesses are and where they can further develop their game,” he said.

In a highly competitive and entertaining match the under 14 women’s Great Southern team had a strong 36 to 30 win over a combined Redbacks WABL under 14 and 13 women’s team. The leading scorers for Great Southern were Summer Stirling with nine and Taimania Jones with eight. The Redbacks’ Gabriella Pyne was the game-high scorer with 10 while Shannon Pomversbach scored eight.

The under 14 men’s Great Southern team lost to the Redbacks under 14 WABL team 51 to 73. Joel Bellenger-Brown was Great Southern’s top-scorer with 17 while Dylan Smallwood had 14. The Redbacks’ Zac Huxley was their highest scorer with 17 while Stephen Pover had 16.

The Great Southern under 14 women’s team lost to the Hawks under 14 team 20 to 68. Taimania Jones and Sheridan Kowald were Great Southern’s highest scorers with six each, while the Hawks Georgia Bertolini was the game-high scorer with 20 and Emma Vincan had 16.

The Great Southern men’s under 14 team lost to the Hawks 19 to 100.

Stirling indicated that the Great Southern Regional Basketball Academy would be looking to bring teams in all age groups to Perth for future experience against WABL teams in carnivals such as the Redback Classic, and considers it important that other regional academy teams participate in such events as this to further develop the regional game.

Gary Prior
Photo by Marg Prior