A total of fourteen of Mount Gambier’s most talented basketballers have been selected to represent SA Country at the 2011 Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup and Pacific Slam in January.

Four Junior Lakers, Georgia Green, Brianna Walters, Morgan Amy and Malinda Markiewicz will be key players in the two Under 16 Girls’ squads at the Country Cup. Green and Walters were members of the SA Country Under 16 Girls team which competed in the 2010 National Championships in Logan, Queensland last July.

All four were members of the Gold Medal SA Country Under 15 team at the Pacific Slam in Port Macquarie in January of this year.

Kane deWit returns to Albury as a member of the SA Country Cup Under 16 Boys’ teams.

Three Lakers men, Matthew Markiewicz, Jak Ryan and Jackson Trappett, are members of the Under 18 teams playing in the Country Cup.

Two Lakers Under 18 Girls will be representing SA Country in January. 2010 Under 16 State Captain Sam Loughhead is going to Albury and Alycia Close will be donning a state uniform for the first time as a member of the SA Country Under 17 team competing in the Pacific Slam.    

Close will be joined by Sam Stafford and Danika Jolley, who have been named in the SA Country Under 15 Boys and Girls’ teams respectively to compete in the Pacific Slam.

Lakers Under 14 players Rachael Hines and Brad Rathjen are continuing to establish themselves as outstanding junior basketballers after gaining selection in the SA Country teams for the Australian Country Cup. Both represented SA at the SAPSASA National Championships in Darwin in August.

All representatives will attend a training camp in Adelaide this weekend and then return home and undertake a rigorous training schedule over the next four weeks under the guidance of SA Country Under 16 Girls Head Coach, Trevor Semmens.

Millicent has seven state members, including all three members of the Walker family, Joe, Lucy and Alex. Jazmin Howe, Cameron Millard and Ben Wilson join the Walkers.

Joe’s selection marks an outstanding achievement for him in representing SA Country in every year of his junior years. David Todd of Millicent is Head Coach of the Under 15 Girls’ team.

Two Under 14 Girls from Bordertown, Tarnie Shinnick and Georgia Exton, have been named in the state squads. Glenn Mathieson of Naracoorte is Coach of the SAC Sharks Under 14 Girls’ team.

Luke Black of Naracoorte is a member of the Under 14 Boys State squad.