In the July School Holidays, Nikki Dougall & Alex Wilson (pictured left to right) represented South Australian Country in the National U16 Basketball championships held in Ulverstone Tasmania.

The Nationals sees teams participating from SA Metro & Country, Victoria Metro & Country, WA Metro & Country, Qld North & South, NSW Metro & Country, Tasmania, Northern Territory, ACT & New Zealand. This tournament is the pinnacle of representative state basketball seeing the “best of the best” playing for supremacy of being names National Champions.  

 

Nikki and Alex both had exceptional weeks representing the state at a very high level and ultimately helping their team achieve a silver medal, something S.A Country has only been able to achieve on one other occasion.

Game 1 SA Country 97 defeated WA Metro 62
South Australia Country got off to a great start to the tournament outscored WA Metro in every quarter for a comfortable 1st game win. Alex having a solid game, scoring 13 points.

Game 2 SA Country 103 defeated Tasmania 51
South Australia Country again got off to a strong start taking away the home town advantage from the pro Tasmanian crowd. Tasmania’s key player, Irini Alexiou who had scored 39 points in her previous game against NSW Country, was identified as a key player the team had to be able to control. Great team defence saw her get into early foul trouble minimising her overall effect on the game. SA Country again built on their previous day’s team play, easily outscoring Tassie in each quarter and eventually running out a convincing victory. Alex again contributed well scoring 15 points.

Game 3 SA Country 80 defeated Qld South 79
SA Country had good knowledge of their next competitors having played them in the grand final of the Port Macquarie Slam tournament 2 years prior. The game had an interesting twist when the coaching staff was forced to bench Steph Talbot, one of the key players for SA Country when she picked up 3 personal fouls in the first 4 minutes. Alex then steadied the team with an outstanding personal performance. Half way through the third quarter SA Country lead by 17 points & looked like they were in for a comfortable win. Qld had other ideas though managing to bridge the gap to 12 at the end of the quarter. Qld South built on this huge momentum swing going in to the last quarter, bringing the game level & even managing to take the lead in the dying seconds of the game. With scores level at 71 all as the final siren blew the game was sent into overtime. SA Country managed to outscore Qld South 9-8 in this final period & go onto win a very important game. Alex finished with 9 rebounds & 21 points (including three 3’s).

Game 4 SA Country 68 defeated New Zealand 47
After winning the nail biter overtime game earlier in the day SA Country then had to back up for a second game against the one International participant in the tournament New Zealand. The game never reached the excitement of some of their earlier games but the team did fight out a convincing victory built on a solid contribution from Nikki who played extended minutes finishing the games with outstanding statistics (2 assists, 3 steals, 3 rebounds & 6 points).

Game 5 SA Country 59 defeated NSW Country 54
This was an important game, with SA Country knowing that a win would ensure them a place in the top 2 of their pool, the top 4 overall & playing off for medals. To be positioned to play for medals at a National Championships is an outstanding effort and something a lot of state representatives only get to dream of. Throughout the first 3 quarters SA Country managed to keep their noses in from, narrowly leading at three quarter time by 11 points. NSW came out strongly in the last quarter outscoring SA Country by 6 points but not managing to bridge the gap any more, ultimately going down by 5 points. Nikki played an excellent game on the key NSW guard, Kate Murphy, limiting her to only 3 points for the game & disrupting her ability to set up her teams’ plays. Nikki played a tagging role spending 21:14 minutes on the court, while her nemesis was on for 21:19 minutes. Although Nikki got fouled off very late in the fourth quarter her defensive pressure was terrific. Alex also had an excellent game finishing with 10 rebounds & 14 points.

Game 6 Victoria Metro 64 defeated SA Country 57
This game saw the two undefeated teams from this side of the pool playing off against each other, the victory only impacted who would play off against whom in the opposite pool in the semi finals. SA Country got off to a good start leading 15-8 at quarter time. Vic Metro then fought back outscoring SA Country 16 to 8 points in the second to lead by 1 at half time. The second half was a see-sawing event with neither team being able to build their ascendancy; both teams seemed to be hedging a bit, knowing that they may meet again in finals so not wanting to show all their cards. Vic Metro went on to win by 7 points setting up a semi final with SA Metro which left SA Country to play NSW Metro.

Semi-final: SA Country 65 defeated NSW Metro 46
SA Country’s personnel matched up really well against NSW in this game, enabling them to outscore their opposition in every quarter. SA Country stuck to their game plan and was able to build on each quarter’s results and ultimately go on to a convincing semi final victory, setting themselves up for a historic Gold Medal game against Victoria Metro who also won their corresponding final against SA Metro.

Grand-final Vic Metro 61 defeated SA Country 55
Vic Metro got off to a strong start putting SA Country under extreme pressure making them look tired and forcing them into making critical errors that resulted in turnovers. Vic Metro built a handy lead by the end of the first quarter leading 20 to 10. SA Country rallied somewhat in the 2nd quarter, outscoring Vic Metro by 2 points but still looking to be struggling & certainly unable to be able to put their opposition under to much defensive pressure. The first half was a low scoring affair with the scores only being Vic 29-21 SA. Scoring became more fluent in the third with 36 points scored in total. Unfortunately Vic outscored SA 20 to 16 to go into the last quarter with a 12 point lead. SA started the last quarter with Dusty Rhodda shooting three 3 pointers & Alex 1. But every time SA looked like swinging the momentum their way Victoria had an answer. SA did well to bring the difference back to 6 at the final siren in an exciting last quarter. Alex finished with 10 rebounds & 15 points.

SA Country Basketball and the Murray Bridge Basketball Association are extremely proud of the individual efforts of both Nikki Dougall and Alex Wilson. They represented both themselves and the state at an extremely high level and their efforts to assist their team into a Gold Medal game at a National Championships places them both at an elite level within the basketball community. Alex had an outstanding carnival finishing with 125 points, 58 rebounds, 34 assists, 12 steals & 13 blocks. She quickly stepped up to this elite level dominating at times and earning selection to attend Basketball Australia’s AIS Selection Camp. Nikki made significant contributions throughout the tournament, hampered somewhat with an ankle injury; Nikki always put her body on the line and her defensive efforts set the standard for her team mates. Nikki finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds, 8 assists & 9 steals.  Both girls were in the starting 5 & to come home with a silver medal is a great achievement.