Category: Basketball Features

Our SA Wheelchair basketball team were ultra competitive in their first tournament at the Kevin Coombs Cup in Ballarat, Victoria 2022. Photo by Basketball SA

3-Minute Read

For those who aren’t sure how classification works

Taken from Disability Sports Australia

The classification of wheelchair basketball players has evolved significantly over the past 15 years. Wheelchair basketball classification is based on the players’ functional capacity to complete the skills necessary to play – pushing, pivoting, shooting, rebounding, dribbling, passing and catching.

It is not an assessment of a player’s level of skill, merely their functional capacity to complete the task. Players are assigned points as their classification – 1, 2, 3, and 4 are the recognized classes, with 0.5 classes between for the exceptional cases which do not fit exactly into one class, and the 4.5 category for the player with least or minimal disability.

Classes are defined according to players’ “volume of action”. Each class has a clearly defined maximal volume of action, which the player may exhibit. Players are observed in their competition wheelchairs, complete with all strapping they will use, but in a training situation before the tournament commences. From this initial observation a player is assigned a class with which they will begin the tournament. The player is then observed in an actual competition game, at which time their classification will be confirmed or modified if the classification panel feels it is necessary.

The total number of points allowed on court at any time is 14.0. That is, the total points of all five players actually playing. If a coach allows the team to have over 14.0 points, they will incur a coach technical foul.

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So now you know about what the numbers and classifications means, lets talk about the basketball side of the Kevin Coombs Cup for our SA State Junior Team

Highlights

South Australia’s biggest win of the week was its first ever and came against NSW which they defeated 45-40 in a thrilling game. It took Cooper Spillane (4.0) with 29 points (including the sealing bucket) and 11 rebounds and Annabelle Dennis (4.0) with a double double of 12 points and 11 rebounds to get SA across the line. If it however wasn’t for a standout performance from Fernando Grez Montiel (1.0) with 2 points (crucial in the last quarter), 5 rebounds, 2 steals and assists in terms of the total points allowed on court at the time, they may have not gotten across the line.

SA finished with a record of 1-3 for the week and played Victoria for third place and unfortunately went down 24-77 with Dennis leading the way with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals and Grez Montiel with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.

Standouts

Cooper Spillane was fantastic all week for SA and finished in the top ten for points, rebounds, assists and steals. They averaged 11.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals . They were also top of the cup for 3 pointers made showing his range.

Another standout was Annabelle Dennis finishing top of the cup for offensive rebounds with an average of 4 per game and in the top ten for rebounds with 9.7. That gave SA numerous second chance opportunities some of which they converted for their 10.5 points per game.

Checkout SA Wheelchair Basketball on their socials for more highlights and news…

https://www.instagram.com/sawheelchairbasketballassoc/

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The SA Country Girls led the way for South Australia in the AJC U18s 2022. Photo By SA Country Basketball

Girls

South Australia Metro

Tournament Result: 9th (Pool B 2-3 (finished 5th) defeated WA Metro in 9th place playoff)

Highlights: The first up game against the WA Metro was a big 96-68 win with West Adelaide Bearcat Sienna Grieger (16 points with 4 triples) and Forestville Eagle Hannah Gardiner (16 points and 8 rebounds). The other win in the minor rounds came against NSW Country 72-65 with Gardiner (17 points and 7 rebounds) and Sturt Sabres Mia Walker-Roberts (15 points and 4 rebounds) helping get the result. That drew SA Metro against WA Country who they comprehensively defeated 91-46 in the playoffs then won their final game to WA Metro 101-76 with Sabres Maddy Hinton’s 25 points a late tournament highlight.

Surprise Packet: Sabres Paige Padroth certainly looks a player that is one to watch, in this tournament she averaged some solid numbers including 12 points, 4 assists and steals and 3 rebounds and has already played Youth District League U23s.

South Australia Country

Tournament Result: 7th (2-3 (finished 4th) lost Semi-Final to QLD South)

Highlights: The Eastern Maverick pairing of Olivia Bradley and Stephanie Formby guided SA Country to the state teams highest finish in 2022. After a tough start against QLD North and Victoria Metro, they managed to register back to back wins against the ACT 52-38 (Formby 17 points and 15 rebounds) and WA Country 96-35 (Bradley 13 points and 12 rebounds) to help them setup a quarter final against QLD South. Despite a huge effort, they went down 56-75 in that one but claimed fourth overall by knocking off Tasmania 80-65 in overtime with Bradley dropping 27 points and 19 rebounds.

Surprise Packet: West Adelaide Bearcat Airlie Ramsey warmed up throughout the tournament and finished with scores of 14, 19, 19, 15 and 19 to really help move SA Country’s chances along. The Yorke Pennisular player will be one to watch in the coming years.

Mens

South Australia Metro

Tournament Result: 8th (Pool A 4-2 (finished 4th), lost to WA Metro in 7th place playoff)

Highlights: SA Metro performed well in a strong pool winning 4 games with the highlight a big win over NSW Metro 85-78 with West Adelaide Bearcat Harry Bruce dropping 31 points with 7 triples and Alex Dodson collecting 15 points and 8 rebounds. It setup a huge clash with Vic Metro with the boys going down 78-92 then playing NSW Metro again with them this time unfortunately going down 58-95. Bruce and Dodson finished the tournament strong averaging 17 and 14 ppg respectively.

Surprise Packet: North Adelaide Rockets Noah McDonald showed some signs early he’d be one out of the box grabbing 24 points against top of the table Tasmania then proceeded to add 13, 10 and 15 point scores throughout the week. Statistically he performed well against the top sides throughout.

South Australia Country

Tournament Result: 11th (Pool B 1-4 (finished 6th) – won to NT in 11th playoff)

Highlights: It was a tough week for SA Country with their minor round highlight coming against NSW Country as they won 75-67. They were led by Bailey Anderson and Jack Bowden with 16 points a piece. They were close to causing a huge upset of QLD North falling just short 86-88 with Jasper Maher leading an even scoring performance with 17 points and 8 rebounds. They finished their week with a win over the NT 82-67.

Surprise Packet: Sturt Sabres Bailey Anderson took a little while to get going but produced some big numbers towards the end of the tournament when it mattered, he averaged in his last four games 10.5 ppg and 3.5 rebounds.

For all these young athletes it is a privilege and a pleasure to represent your state no matter how they individually went, congratulations to all U18 Metro and Country Boys and Girls for representing our state against some quality national athletes…

Lets hope we get to see this talent at the NBL1 Central level in the near future…