Five Junior Lakers Basketball teams travelled to Warrnambool for the annual Seaside Junior Classic. Three teams played in grand finals and two came home with titles.

The Lakers asserted their authority in the Under 18 Division 1 competitions; the women winning the title and the men runner-up.

The most pleasing result of the weekend was the grand final win by the Lakers Under 14 Girls. Under Rohan Harrap, in his first stint of junior town team coaching, the team has made remarkable progress since selection in late August.

They showed promise in the Millicent Tournament and built on this foundation this weekend. They won 2 of their three games on Saturday, going down to Millicent by a healthy margin after a close first half.

On Sunday they regrouped and scored a strong win against Bendigo in the semi-final.

This meant a rematch against Millicent in the final. Gains in experience and confidence enabled the Lakers players to keep a handle on the final even though the scores were close. The title win by 4 points came from sustained defensive contributions from team members. Hardworking Laker, Tenille Gray won the Most Valuable Player of the final award.         

The Lakers Under 18 Women, coached by Trevor Semmens turned the tables on Bendigo in the grand final after going down by 6 points in their minor round clash. Their one point title win over Bendigo, sixth in Basketball Victoria Country Division 1 Under 18 Women’s 2012 seedings, was the highlight of the Tournament.

The Lakers Under 18 Girls made a sluggish start to the Tournament, defeating Millicent by 8 points and then going down to Bendigo by 6 but bouncing back to easily account for Terang.

They cruised through the Qualifying Final against Casterton on Sunday and then won a tough and uncompromising semi-final by 8 against Warrnambool and hence earned another crack at the classy Bendigo.

The final was a classic contest of tough, physical basketball in which Bendigo threw everything at the Lakers. The manner in which the Lakers however responded to the challenges drew special praise from Coach Semmens. He spoke of how well the players worked together as one and did the little things that do not show up on the score sheet.

  The Lakers led by 4 with just over a minute to play and managed to hang on a one point lead through a series of fouls and visits to the charity stripe. Lakers’ Georgia Green was named Most Valuable Player in the final.   

The Lakers Under 18 Men made a somewhat slow start to the Tournament with tough wins over Portland by two and Terang by four.

On Sunday the players followed instructions and executed team plays better and as a result scored a big win 52-31against Corio Bay in the semi-final and spot in the grand final against host Warrnambool. The Lakers boys worked really hard and did not give up but could not contain the talented Warrnambool players. The home side ran out winner   58-53. Lakers playmaker Matt Parslow was named Most Valuable player in the grand final.

The Lakers Under 16 Boys made a very good start to the Tournament winning both games on Saturday against Millicent and Portland. It was a different story in the semi-final on Sunday morning when they went down by 6 and missed out on a grand final appearance for the first time in three tournaments.

 Inconsistency again haunted the Lakers Under 16 Girls. They played well in patches but too often lapsed in concentration. They lost to Warrnambool and then played well to defeat Hamilton. A disappointing loss to Colac in the Qualifying Final put them out of the finals race. They however finished on a winning note, defeating Portland in a Consolation game on Sunday afternoon.

Lakers Junior Town Team coaches will now be preparing for the City of Mount Gambier Junior Tournament which will conducted on 10 basketball courts in the city area over the weekend of November 19^th and 20^th.