The 2018/19 Junior Lakers Basketball Teams competed in the recent Naracoorte Junior Basketball Tournament as the final stage in preparation for the 2019 SA Country Junior Championships. The Lakers Under 16 Boys Division 2 team won their section. They were unbeaten for weekend culminating with a 57-50 win over Naracoorte in the final. Results of earlier games for the Lakers were wins over Portland 48-33, Great Southern 48-29, Naracoorte 56-34 and Keith 51-21.  The Under 16 Girls Division 1 team finished runner-up to Millicent.

This weekend sees seven Junior Lakers teams travel to Adelaide to compete in the first weekend of the 2019 SA Country Junior Championships. This weekend is stage one of the championships and the competition for the annual John Spooner Award for the Association winning most Division 1 games, which Mount Gambier has won in the past three years.

The Lakers teams competing this weekend are five Under 14 teams, two Girls and three Boys. Coaches of the Girls’ teams are Dan Collins and Felicity Clayton while Robbie Young, Matt Ray and Kym Hammond are in charge of the Boys’ teams. The Trisha Flett Memorial Trophy will be awarded to the Most Valuable Player in the Under 14 Girls’ Division 1 competition. Trisha Flett was a junior player in Mount Gambier’s and SA Country’s Under 14 teams. 

State Coach, Bryan Green is in charge of the Lakers Under 18 Girls team, which will compete in a four- team competition over the three days, against Mildura, Strathalbyn and Whyalla. The Lakers Under 18 Boys, under the guidance of Matt Berkefeld, will compete in a seven- team competition, firstly against in a pool against Barossa Valley, Mildura and Yorke Valley and then cross over games against Great Southern, Eastern Hills and Millicent.

The Championships are being played at three venues, Wayville, Pasadena and Campbelltown (The Arc) starting on Saturday morning and concluding with Grad Finals on Monday.