The SA Country Under 14 Sharks team, coached by Mount Gambier Junior Development Officer, Trevor Semmens won the championship game against sister team SA Country Magpies, 47-42, at the 2012 Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup in Albury last Saturday.

Rachael Hines of Mount Gambier is a member of the SA Country Under 15 team which also remained undefeated for the week of the Pacific in Port Macquarie Slam and won the Grand Final against NSW Waratahs 64-48. Alex Walker of Millicent suited up in this team. SA Country was the standout side of this competition and enjoyed some big wins.

Mount Gambier’s Brenna McKay along with Jess Allen and Olivia Fuller are members of the Sharks Championship team in Albury. Glenn Mathieson of Naracoorte, Basketball Manager of District Club, Forestville is Coach of the Magpies with team members Tenille Gray of Mount Gambier, Isabella Stratford and Alana Winter both of the Millicent Association.  

The two SA Country Under 14 Girls teams dominated the national competition during the week. The Sharks finished the week undefeated while the Magpies lost just one game to New Zealand Kea, 61-63 in the minor rounds and then the final by 5 to Sharks. The Final quickly developed into a desperate struggle as all players gave their all in their efforts to snare the silverware. Throughout the game teams had mini-surges and took the lead only to see the other do likewise a few minutes later. The margin remained at one for much of the final quarter and is was only in the last sixty seconds that Sharks managed to maintain a slender lead.

It was a fantastic achievement by Semmens and his squad. He spoke highly of the players and their continual commitment to playing as a team.

It was however a “bitter sweet” result to some degree because Semmens and Mathieson have been working together in the SA Country program for many years and  Mathieson coached in his fourth grand final at the Cup and is yet to collect a title.

The other 10 SA Country teams bowed out in the Cup quarter finals and hence did not feature in their respective semi-finals.     

The Sharks Under 18 Girls, with four Lakers, Sam Loughhead, Georgia Green, Brianna Walters and Malinda Markiewicz, in the line-up, finished in a three way tie for top spot in their pool after their only pool loss to Victoria Goldminers, 53-69.

This resulted in third placing behind Goldminers and NSW Waratahs and a quarter final against Vic. Bushrangers.

The Sharks were unable to produce their earlier form and went down 54-69, but went on to win remaining playoff games, 106-48 against Albury /Wodonga and 57-40 against NSW Waratahs.

The SA Country Under 18 Boys teams finished fourth in their pools but were bundled out of the finals series in the quarter finals; Sharks were defeated by Vic. Bushrangers, 73-96 and Magpies by NSW Waratahs 54-66. They each won one of their playoff games. Mount Gambier’s Matt Parslow led by example in his team while Kane deWit, Matt Markiewicz and Jackson Trappett were solid contributors.

Sam Stafford and Stephen Sochacki of Mount Gambier made the most of their opportunities in the Sharks Under 16 team, which struggled against bigger opponents. They however finished the week on a winning note defeating SA Magpies 73-62 and semi-final loser NSW Kookaburras 44-30 in the playoffs.           

The week proved to be a valuable learning experience for Michael Harris and Zach deWit, who were members of the SA Country Under 14 sides. Magpies finished third in their pool but lost to grand finalist Tasmania, 47-51 in the quarter final and  Sharks went down to NSW Kookaburras 45-68.

Ebony McDiarmid had an outstanding week as a member of the Slam Under 17 side, which finished the minor rounds with a 4/2 win/loss record. They then won the semi-final against NSW Waratahs 59-55 but lost the grand Final 71-81 in overtime. McDiarmid was a key player in this final and her desperate efforts forced the game into overtime.

Brad Rathjen is a member of the SA Country Under 15 team which played at the Slam in Port Macquarie. His team won 4 games and lost 3 and then lost narrowly, 61-64 to NSW Waratahs in the playoff.  

Under 18 players Sam Loughhead and Matt Parslow were given the honour of representing SA Country in the Official Opening Ceremony of the Cup hosted by New Zealand on Monday morning at the Wodonga Sports and Leisure Centre.