S A Country Basketballers Bring Home Silver
S A Country Basketballers Bring Home Silver.
The S.A. Country Under 18 Women’s team came home with silver medals from the Australian Championships played in Ballarat during last week. Mount Gambier junior Lakers, Rachael Hines and Brenna McKay along with Alex Walker of Millicent, are members of the team which finished runner-up to the “all class” Victorian Metro team. This result for Hines and Walker is one better than in 2014 when they came home with Bronze medals.
S.A. Country lost one game to Victoria Metro by 22 points and finished second in their pool.
In the finals series SA Country easily accounted for NSW Country 77-59 in the quarter final. Chelsea Brook, SAC “tall,” dominated the game, well supported by Hines and Walker.
The semi-final saw SA Country meet NSW Metro, who pulled off an upset quarter final win over pool leader, Victoria Country. SA Country comprehensively defeated them in a most impressive team performance, possibly their best so far for the week to set up a grand final appearance.
Victoria Metro also won their way effortlessly to the Championship game.
The first quarter of the final was close as teams traded baskets. A huge second quarter run, led by Final MVP, Anneli Maley, gave Victoria a 16 point lead and a firm grip on the Maree Jackson Cup.
SA Country found it difficult to finish over the height and strength of Vic. Metro.
SA Country closed down scoring avenues inside in the second half only to see the opposition knock down shots from outside to record an 86-46 win. It was obvious that the Vics had scouted the SA Country starting five very effectively, apart from Hines who led the team scoring with 13 points. First year Laker Brenna McKay pulled in 8 rebounds.
All tings taken into account this is an outstanding achievement by the SA Country Women.
SA Metro Women won Bronze medals by easily defeating NSW Metro 72-51.
It was a very different story for the SA Country Men, who finished a disappointing 10th in the Championships. The team overall struggled throughout the week against bigger and more talented opposition. Mount Gambier’s Brad Rathjen was however clearly the best player for SA Country and one of the leading players at the Championships.He displayed outstanding ability on court and a pleasing level of maturity both on and off the court
Rathjen headed the Championship field in average scores per game with 22.4 points. Highlight of his week was his massive 38 points against Vic. Metro.
The playoff game for 9th and 10th was a total disappointment for SA Country. S.A. Country dominated the game against Tasmania for three quarters and led by 23, 61-36 at the final break. Tasmania, to their credit and smart coaching by Mark Redford, stuck to plans and gradually closed the seemingly insurmountable gap.
In contrast the SAC coaching staff appeared to consider the game won. As a result, Tasmania had the momentum in the run home and took the lead in the closing minute for an unlikely 72-69 win on the end of a 36-8 fourth quarter. Rathjen led the scoring with 25 points while Lachlan Hunter scored 4 points.
NSW Country Men defeated NSW Metro 82-66 in the Championship game. Queensland North Men won the Bronze medal game, defeating Vic. Metro 79-59. SA Metro finished 6th after going down to WA Metro 83-72.
A deserved personal positive for Rathjen from the Championships came with him being named in the All Tournament Team. His personal stats read 22.4 points per game to lead the Championships, 3 rebounds per game and 2.9 assists per game.
Comments in the report included
“Rathjen has made amazing improvement since last year’s Tournament. 6’ 1’’ guard showed off an in between game and attacked the rim with aggression.”
SA Country’s Chelsea Brook was named in the Women’s All Tournament Team.
In review the 2015 Under 18 Championships proved a rewarding finale for silver medallists Hines and Walker but a contrasting disappointment for Rathjen as the trio move out of the SA Country Junior Basketball scene.
SA Country is now in its preliminary stages of planning for the 2015 Under 16 Australian Championships, which will be played in Ulverstone, Tasmania in early July.
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