This Friday night the Millicent Basketball Stadium will be the place to be with 10 junior Semi Finals taking place between 5 and 9pm. These games include teams from under 12s and under 14s, girls and boys. Everyone is encouraged to come and enjoy the great standard of basketball that will be on display.

The night is set to start in brilliant fashion with the Roos taking on the Devils at 5:00pm in the under 12 girls. It looks set to be a tight tussle as Jade Little will attempt to combat Sophie Varcoe’s height with strength and aggression on the rebounds. If Rosie Nettle can overcome a wrist injury that occurred in last week’s match, she will look to use her blistering pace to burn her opponents off and find her way to the Devils basket. Aislinn Schultz will miss the game and therefore the Devils will have to play great team defence in order to lessen the impact that Keely Stuart may have on the scoreboard. It is tipped that this one will come right down to the wire as it did all season and winning the rebounds will go a long way to winning the game for both teams.

At this time, the second semi-final for the under 12 girls game will also be played on Patrick’s (main) court between the streaky Pumas and the Eagles. Although the Pumas lost three game in a row to start the season, they have bounced back and are currently on a 7 game winning streak, which they will look to hold as they fight off an Eagles team which finished with 7 wins and 8 losses. The Pumas definitely look to be the favourites in this game, considering their recent form and also the recent form of star player, Lacey Haines, who has been carving it up at town team level, but it would be wrong to right off a team which consists of Paige Lucas and Alice Goode. This game will come down to whether or not Lucas and Goode can limit the amount of time the Haines spends with the ball. The tip goes to the Pumas but if the game is within 5 points at 3quarter time watch the Eagles come home strong as experienced coach Peter Seebohm uses strategical moves to change the flow of the game.

At 6:00pm the under 12 boy’s semi-finals will begin in spectacular fashion with The Devils taking on the Tigers. The Devils who are led by Riley Shanks and Harvey Jones, play a very fast pace game which could go one of two ways. The Tigers led by Austin Fuller will show much poise as they try to Counter the quick ball movement of the Devils. Tom Tranter will also play a key role in this game as his raw and natural athleticism may stand up to the run and gun offence of the Devils. This game should also come right down to the wire and will be determined by who has the better shot selection of the two teams.

On the MyPod court alongside, the second under 12 boy’s semi-final will also be played between the Pumas and the Rebels. The Pumas are clear favourites to win, only just missing out on making the first semi-final but will be challenged by a Rebels side which are starting to hit their straps despite winning only 6 games for the season. The Pumas are very versatile and rely on everyone to chip in and do there bit but the Rebels will have a tough time attempting to stop both Kynan and Tallan Dunn as well as Jack Haggett from making a big impact in the game. For the Rebels Eli Redman and Harry Mules have both made a big improvement at Town team level and are both ready to take over this game and produce possibly the biggest semi-final upset.

Also at 6:00pm the under 14 girls 3^rd vs 4^th semi-final gets underway with Roos taking on the Eagles. This game is likely to be another very tight contest with the Roos, although lacking height, likely to score lots and put pressure on the Eagles defence through the attack from Kayleigh Taylor and Charlotte Turner, although this may be combated with the mixture of height from Maddi Haggett and speed from Lucy Denton. This is expected to be one of the games of the finals as many elite town team players do battle for elimination.

Then at 7:00pm the 1^st placed Devils will take on the resilient 2^nd placed Tigers in a match that will determine who will go straight through to the final. Devils have been the dominant team all year losing only 4 games but the Tigers are on a roll and after losing their first 4 games for the season finished won 7 out of their next 11 for the season. The Nitschke twins, Hannah and Paige are key players to watch for the Devils as they can score from anywhere on the court whilst for the Tigers Kate Walker’s speed means that she is likely to find her way to the basket and Georgia Winter’s height should give the Tigers the edge in the rebounding and defence. This game is set to be a thriller with a possibility of the Tigers producing the upset of the night if they can win the rebounds and play strong defence to keep the Nitschke girls away from the basket.

At 7:00pm there will also be two other games taking place to see which under 14 boy’s teams will advance to the division 2 preliminary and grand final. The teams that finished 5^th and 6^th in the regular season (Demons and Pumas) will play off in the first semi-final to see who will continue straight to the grand final whilst the teams that finished 7^th and 8^th (Rebels and Roos) will play to determine which team will be eliminated and which team will continue to the preliminary final on the 1^st of December.

In the Demons and Pumas match up Joel Dent and Josh Werchon will again do battle as they so often have throughout their young careers full of rivalry and friendship whilst Hugh Armfield and Dylan Shanks will go head to head in the key way and both play a big part in winning the rebounds compartment. This game will be won by the team that can play the best defence for a solid 40 minutes.

The Rebels and Roos game is also not to be missed as there is still some of Millicent’s finest talent sure to be on display with Harry Tunkin heading up the Rebels and Sam Gray running the floor for the Roos. These two teams were unlucky all year and although Roos didn’t win a game in the regular season, they lost numerous games by under 5 points and finished with 2 draws. Expect this game to be a high scoring affair with both teams struggling a little on defence throughout the year. If one team can play both defence and offence, it is felt that they may have the upper hand in this one.

Then at 8:00pm, possibly the most anticipated match up of the night will be played in the under 14 boys’, between the 1^st placed Eagles and the 2^nd placed Devils. The Eagles have been clearly the most dominant team in the league, at one point they sat on an 11 game winning streak before losing just 2 games for the season. They will be without state player, Conall Schultz, though, who has taken over much of the scoring for his team this year so the Eagles will need to invent new ways to score and it is likely that Harry Willis and Kade Varcoe will step up and provide this for their team. The Devils were strong throughout the season and have had so many players chip in and score but the height of Lachlan Leake and Zac Bradley will be one way in which the Devils look to exploit their opposition. This should be a tight contest and it may come down to whether the Eagles can continue to apply scoreboard pressure in the absence of Schultz.

Also at this time it is the Saints that will take on the Tigers in a fight for elimination in the under 14 boys. Both of these teams finished on 8 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses for the year and often the games that they played against each other resulted in narrow margins. Mason Galwey of the Saints and Frazer Bradley of the Tigers will again go head to head, each in an attempt to limit the impact of the other whilst also being dominant on the offensive end. Paddy Chay and Billy Shanks are also entertainers and will be producing their flashiest passes and scores in front of what is hopefully a full crowd on Patrick’s court. Everyone seems to think that this one will be separated by only a number of points and it may even come down to a buzzer beating shot from one of the key players.

These semi-finals are sure to be great entertainment and not to be missed. The Millicent Basketball Association encourages everyone in the community to come down and get around the young stars. For teams that advance to the preliminary finals, these will be played on Tuesday the 1^st of December and teams that advance straight through to the Grand Final will play on Friday the 11^th of December.  The junior committee is very keen to hear from any player that is interested in playing Basketball in any age group and for more information please call Peter on 0438388073 or Aidan on 0428903100.

Aidan Schultz, Millicent Basketball.