Catch a very special sneak peak of the SA Shotclock soon to be released including the reviews of the Adelaide Lightning and Adelaide 36ers, previews of upcoming games including tonight’s 36ers vs Jackjumpers, Tristan “TP” Prentice and special co-host Harrison “Chappy” Chapman talk state selections for the SA teams and rising stars of the future and new Cluch commentator Jasmin “Jazz” Fejo joins us to talk all things NBL1 Central, her move to the Lions and much more
Catch a very special sneak peak of the SA Shotclock soon to be released including the reviews of the Adelaide Lightning and Adelaide 36ers, previews of upcoming games including tonight’s 36ers vs Jackjumpers, Tristan “TP” Prentice and special co-host Harrison “Chappy” Chapman talk state selections for the SA teams and rising stars of the future and new Cluch commentator Jasmin “Jazz” Fejo (pictured right with two other J’s) joins us to talk all things NBL1 Central, her move to the Lions and much more
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The U14s Club Championship ran recently in Sydney, NSW with a plethora of future NBL1 talent. Here’s the wrap-up, highlights and a snapshot of the SA championship teams.
Our U14 representatives at the National Club Championships were only slightly behind some of the junior powerhouses of national basketball interstate over in Sydney - but showed plenty of spirit on and off court. Pictures by Basketball South Australia
Highlights: The Mavs started with a win on day one over the Penrith Panthers 51-33 before a tough double header on day two. That involved a loss to the always strong Nunawading Spectres then a win over the Townsville Fire to take them to 2-1 and the top 12 of the championship division. The Mavs then took on the Warrnambool Mermaids downing them to setup an all SA showdown on day four. The loss to the Flames landing them against the Southern District Spartans – their hot shooting putting the Mavs into the positional playoffs for 5th to 8th. A 10 point win over the Sandringham Sabres 49-39 saw them into a playoff for 5th place against the Cavaliers. The Cavs got the Mavs 41-34 but gave our SA girls the highest finish of the division for their state in 6th place.
This team also took out the Jenny Cheesman Fair Play award for the championships representing the state off-court as well as on it.
Highlights: The Norwood Flames went deep into the club championships with some solid wins in their 6 and 2 record for the week. The Flames knocked off some well known junior club names along the way to their 5th to 8th positional games including the Melbourne Tigers 47-26 on day one. Day two was a clean sweep with two wins – over the Willeton Tigers 61-43 and Newcastle Falcons 74-23 before day three saw them overcome the Mermaids 59-41. Day four was the clash of the Grand Finalists from SA with the Flames overcoming the Mavs 61-46 but then suffering their first loss in a tough quarter final to the Mackay Meteorettes 30-55 and landing themselves in the positional games for 5th to 8th.
The Casey Cavaliers are always a tough task and it proved the case in a thrilling contest going down by a few buckets 55-59 but then secured the 7th spot in the overall standings with a strong 67-41 win over the Sandringham Sabres.
Highlights: The Sabres started their campaign securing second spot in their pool taking them through to the final 12. The 2-4 record landed them in the 9th to 12th place playoffs which they won through to finish with a 4-7 record overall. They took out the Illawarra Hawks 49-45 with then a tight two-point win over the Mermaids 37-35 to secure 9th place – the third SA team in the top ten for the division.
The Eastern Mavericks represented both SA on and off court not only finishing in 6th place but also chosen as the Jenny Cheesman fair play award recipient
Highlights: The Warriors went 1-1 on the first day before grabbing a second win to be top of their pool. They hit a snag with a tough 20-point loss to the Spectres 60-80 then winning an SA showdown to the South Adelaide Panthers by five points 56-51. That placed them into the finals drawing a quarter final against the Rockhampton Rockets going down 67-81 to land them in the 5th to 8th playoffs. The Whittlesea Pacers won the tough contest 71-81 to setup a 7th place finish for the Warriors but couldn’t strike the final bit of gold against the Ballarat Miners. Nevertheless the Warriors finish was the highest of all SA teams in the boys division in a tough set of teams in 2022.
An individual highlight was the naming of Lucas Li in the top 5 players for the division averaging 20 points across all 8 of their games.
Norwood Flames
Tournament Result: Runner Up (Shield Division)
Highlights: It was huge week for the Flames boys representative side – they did start with a day one hiccup to the Bankstown Bruins 53-62 but then got on the board with an 83-38 win over the Kilsyth Cobras. Day two saw them take on Northwest Tasmania Thunder and the Flames struck them down 53-26 then on day three blew away the Darwin Cyclones 67-29. Another win on day four over the Penrith Panthers 69-39 setup a quarter final stoush with the Canberra Gunners. The Flames continued to burn bright with a 57-35 win over the Gunners to progress them to the semi-final. Their third NSW team in days saw them bring down the Sydney Comets 51-30 and into the Shield Final.
A dramatic finish to the tournament saw an overtime thriller 49-56 win to the Bendigo Braves but an effort all of SA can be proud of from these boys in the Shield division.
Highlights: The Panthers started their championship hunt with a tough loss to the Spartans 47-61 but then bounced back on day two with a win over the Gunners 59-48. A two game block followed with a win over the Hawks 64-47 to finish second in their pool before meeting the Warriors in the playoff for for 9th to 12th – going down by 5 points.
It was a thrilling finish in the playoff for 11th with the Panthers…
The Norwood Flames only just came up short in the Shield Division in an extremely competitive performance
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 U14 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 distant future…
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The U16 AJC Tournament ran recently in Perth, WA with a plethora of future NBL1 talent. Here’s the wrap-up, highlights and surprise packets for the SA championship teams.
Our U16 Girls came agonisingly close to grabbing a gold medal but led a solid core of SA teams in the Next Gen Tournament in Perth this month. Pictures by Basketball South Australia
3-Minute Read
Girls
South Australia Metro
Tournament Result: 2nd (Pool A 6-0 (finished 1st) lost to NSW Metro in Gold medal playoff)
Highlights: The Bearcats Coco Hodges was one of the standout players for the week averaging 12.7 points per game with a defeat of Vic Metro 65-64 with Norwood Flames’s Polly Turner scoring 14 points and 4 steals and Grace Taylor with a couple of clutch free-throws rallying the late comeback. The Girls also defeated Queensland South 72-70 with Eagles Aspen Crase dropping a couple of crucial free throws at the death. Hodges dropped another 19 points and Eagles Zahlia Niemann had 13 points and 6 rebounds. Winning all their pool games they won their semi-final 82-57 over Vic Country with the Rockets Lucy Wootton collecting 19 points and 6 rebounds and Niemann a double double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. They ended up losing the final to NSW Metro 61-89 with Crase 14 points and 9 rebounds.
Surprise Packet: The Eagles Niemann averaged 10.6 points over the last five games with the ACT game seeing her jump a level by 5.8 rebounds per game.
South Australia Country
Tournament Result: 6th (Pool B 3-2 (finished 3rd) lost to Queensland South in 5th place playoff)
Highlights: The Bearcats Sienna Lehmann starred the whole tournament with an average of 16.5 points per game (7th overall) 5.6 Assists (2nd) and shot 49.1 field goal percentage. Krystal Thompson was also a standout with 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds. Country started well against Tasmania 53-49 with Lehmann dropping 22 points and 5 steals, and the Mavs Penzy Hocking 10 points. They then knocked off WA Metro 90-56 with Lehmann grabbing 17 pts and 6 assists and the Mavs Roxanna Tyler 12 points. The other pool win came over QLD North 63-54 with Mavs Ella Aldridge having a huge one with 17 points (4-6 triples). When it came to finals, they lost their playoff to Vic Metro 38-60 but then gave themselves a chance to playoff for fifth with a 77-26 win over WA Country with 5 SA players reaching double figures. The fifth place playoff was competitive with a 79-85 win to QLD South with Thompson having a tournament best 27 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds.
Surprise Packet: Eastern Mavericks and Millicent Magic’s Edie Easterby stepped up to help Lehmann and Thompson on the rebounds grabbing over 7 plus rebounds 4 times and at least one offensive rebound each match, she also added an average of 5 points per game.
Boys
South Australia Metro
Tournament Result: 4th (Pool B 4-1 (finished 1st), lost to WA Metro in bronze medal playoff)
Highlights: Eagles James Mackenzie was the standout with 16.4 points (7th overall), 2.3 steals (3rd) and Flame Oscar Sabine a staggering 10 rebounds per game (2nd). SA Metro were strong this championships showing their intent during the pool games with a 71-70 thrilling win over Vic Country led by Mackenzie with 19 points and 5 steals and Lions Deng Manyang with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Metro then backed it up against NSW Metro 94-74 with Mackenzie burying a whopping 37 points and 8 steals, 6 rebounds, Sabine a double double of 17 points and 15 rebounds and Eagles Sam Hughes with 21 points. Metro played Country to progress to the next stage as Metro won 80-45 with the semi-final against Vic Metro not quite going the way they hoped 61-91. The playoff for the bronze happened against WA Metro with the yellow of the west getting up 59-91.
Surprise Packet: South Adelaide Panther Koby Moir hit the scoreboard early in the tournament with scores of 13 and 10 in his first three games, then dropped 18 in the SA showdown and looked a threat from outside with some light up games to help guide SA almost to the very end.
South Australia Country
Tournament Result: 8th (Pool A 3-3 (finished 4th) – lost to Tasmania in 7th place playoff)
Highlights: The Central District Lions Hudson Linder was the best for SA Country averaging 15.4 points (8th overall), 6.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists while Aidan Schubert finished in the top ten in 6th for rebounding with 8.2. Country had some solid wins during the pool stages over NT 112-60, NSW Country 90-86 and ACT 84-59. They drew a tough run across the finals going down to SA Metro as mentioned earlier then played off against NSW Metro (111-77) and then finished with a tight tussle against Tasmania 81-89 where Linder and Schubert finished their tournaments strong with 19 and 14 points each respectively to help their team finish 8th overall.
Surprise Packet: Rockets Cody Corbett really stepped up in a couple of games at the charity stripe with a combined 16 of 25 providing the supplementary scoring Country needed inside. He only had one game the whole tournament where he scored 5 or less so was always hitting the scoreboard at vital times. He showed these qualities at a state championships I’d called recently and you can see the translation he’s made to the national team level.
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 U16 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 distant future…
We are back to doing recaps for the NBL, Catch all the NBL1 Central action this weekend on the NBL1 website, app and game of the week on Kayo and Kayo Freebies.
Please continue to support SA basketball news and features content being written, with our recent influx of work we are making content all free to read again but need constant contributions to make this happen
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