Success at Basketball Junior Nationals
The 2013 SA Country Under 16 Girls returned home with Bronze Medals after competing in the National Championships conducted in Adelaide last week.
Mount Gambier’s Rachael Hines and Millicent's Alex Walker were members of the successful team. Hines had the leadership role of Vice Captain and was a key player in the starting five while Alex made the most of her opportunities from the bench. One of her impressive performances was in the semi-final loss to eventual Gold Medallist Victoria Metro when she scored 15 points and competed strongly inside the paint.
The SA Country Girls were undefeated after their six pool games, easily accounting for Queensland South, Tasmania, NSW Metro, ACT, WA Metro and Vic. Country. Hines played a big game against Vic. Country when she scored 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
Their opponent in the semi-final, Vic. Metro, had a different road into the finals series. They were locked in a three way tie with SA Metro and NSW Country for the two semi-final placings. SA Metro finished first and Vic. Metro second in their pool after SA Metro defeated NSW Country in the final pool game.
Vic. Metro had too much depth and were very well prepared for the semi-final match. It was tight early but Vic. Metro gradually opened up a gap in the latter minutes of the game to win 67-55. Walker scored 15 points while Hines had 8 points and 6 rebounds.
The semi-final was their only loss for the week as they went on to defeat NSW Metro, 82-66, for the second time of the week and hence secure the Bronze Medal.
The SA Country Boys faced a tough assignment in this year’s nationals. Many of their opponents boasted much taller and stronger squads. Mount Gambier’s Brad Rathjen was named Captain and was joined by Luke Black of Naracoorte and Aiden Schultz of Millicent.
They had one win in their pool games and were in winning positions in several others. The win came against ACT, 63-58, in which Rathjen scored 6points and made 6 rebounds, Black 7 and 3 and Schultz 8 and 3. Rathjen had big games against New Zealand and Vic, Country, scoring 19 and 15 points respectively.
They had a positive end to the week, defeating SA Metro 55-53 in the cross over classification game and then Tasmania 61-56 in the playoff for 9th and 10th.
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