The Under 14 and 18 Junior Lakers performed enjoyed considerable successes at the recent 2011 SA Country Basketball Junior Championships played in Adelaide. Six Lakers teams competed in the Championships and four played off in grand finals.  The achievement of Lakers teams playing off in three of the four Division 1 Championship games and one Division 3 grand final is fantastic and reflects the hard work put in by the players and coaches over the past months. The fact that the four teams finished runner-up in their respective title games was a somewhat disappointing end to the terrific Championships but the players and officials can be well pleased with their silver medallions and hence state standings. The Lakers teams were not highly ranked in terms of state representatives and high performance squad members prior to the Championships but performances were beyond expectations in most cases.

The Lakers Under 14 Girls Division 1 team was possibly the best performed Lakers side for the Championships. Talented Rachael Hines is the only state representative in the team. They however won their way through to the final against quality opposition. They finished second in their section and then defeated Millicent 32-28 in the quarter final and Great Southern 26-25 in a tough semi-final.  Murray Bridge then produced their best game of the weekend to defeat the Lakers in the grand final. Hines led the side well along with Jordana Jones, Tahlia Earl and Casey Horrigan in an overall solid team effort.    

The Lakers Under 18 Women played their best basketball of the Tournament season in these Championships. They won the three section games, accounting for eastern Hills, 37-28, Port Pirie, 52-45 and Whyalla 50-45. Their comprehensive win over arch rival, Millicent, 46-23, in the semi-final was the team’s highlight of the weekend. Murray Bridge, fielding several state players, proved too strong for Lakers in the final. Main scorers in this strong team performance included Sam Loughhead and Emily Stafford.

The Lakers Under 18 Men made a solid start to the Championship weekend by defeating Eastern Hills 44-40 in a game in which Jak Ryan scored 21 points. Things turned around in the second game when they lost to Murray Bridge, 39-51 but then bounced back to defeat Whyalla, 53-29, and Willunga, 42-26. The Lakers went on to account for Port Augusta, 54-42, and Mildura 55-48, in the minor finals.  Eastern Hills reversed the earlier result against the Lakers in the final and ran out easy winners 46-27.The Lakers fell back into individual efforts at times as Eastern Hills applied pressure all over the court in this game. Jak Ryan was the consistent scorer for the team, averaging 16 points per game for the weekend

The Lakers Under 14 Division 1 Boys team was the unlucky one of the weekend. They were impressive in winning their three Section games but then were narrowly beaten by Port Pirie in the Quarter Final on Sunday.

The Lakers Under 14 Boys playing in Division 3 were undefeated leading into the grand final, but lost the title to Eastern Hills in somewhat controversial circumstances. The Lakers defeated Mildura 32-18 in their opening game and continued scoring wins over Strathalbyn 34-28, Whyalla 42-8, and Murray Bridge 38-24. They won a thriller against Riverland, 37-35 in the semi-final. Michael Harris was the team’s most consistent scorer for the weekend while Brodie Clark, Lachlan Hunter and team-mates all contributed to these pleasing results.

The Lakers Under 14 Girls’ second team played in Division 4. They made a tentative start in their first game against Keith going down 11-18. They scored a big win over Naracoorte 33-9 but then went down to Adelaide Plains 17-30. Keith then defeated the Lakers in the semi-final.  This was the first experience of championship competition for the majority of players and it was pleasing to note their rapid improvement as the weekend unfolded.

The Lakers junior representative Under 12 and 16 teams are currently in their final stages of preparation for the SA Country Basketball Junior Championships in Adelaide this weekend.