Maribyrnong wins U20 National Basketball Championships
The Maribyrnong Jets Senior girls’ basketball team has won the Division 1 Championship for the second year in a row at the National School Basketball Championships
Our Team comprised of 3 year 11’s and 4 year 10’s and the girls went through the tournament undefeated, playing teams primarily from Victoria in the Metro and Country regions.
The girls played a dynamic style of game throughout all games, scoring heavily and restricting opposition teams to low scores with a great ability to disrupt ball movement and force the opposition into turning the ball over and taking bad shots.
Maribyrnong played Yarra Valley Grammar in the Semi-Final, getting out to a fast start creating an early advantage and finishing with a convincing 82 to 40 victory. All girls made significant contributions with Ally Keating leading all-scorers with 25 points and Casey Paea creating havoc at the defensive end using her athleticism and anticipation to cause multiple turnovers.
The Gold medal game was against Loreto College from Ballarat. They had been dominant in the opposite pool through the tournament and it was looking to be a tightly contested Grand Final. The Marby Jets came out of the blocks slowly trailing 15-8 through the first part of quarter one. The girls got their game going in extremely hot conditions and were able to establish a 16 point lead half way through the last quarter. We finished with the Tournament win and were able to defend our title with a score line 55 – 46. Victoria Ikenasio capped off a great year of development top scoring with 16 points to lead our team, while also receiving double figure contributions from Tess Barnes, Ally Keating and Casey Paea who were all consistent contributors through tournament.
Congratulations to Kira Bennett made the 3rd most 3 point shots for the tournament finishing with 12, and Jess Fitzgerald and Bella Dean played important roles bringing great effort and intensity to every game.
It was a fantastic end to a very successful year for the senior girls group who have demonstrated constant individual and collective improvement across the year. They are starting to consistently play an attractive style of basketball and through their individual improvement they are achieving positive results and forming great chemistry that will bode well for a successful 2019.
