Category: SA Championship Basketball

Gold mining from the West: The Bearcats scored one of the gold medals for SA at the Kumon National Junior Classics in a strong showing from our state last weekend.  Picture by West Adelaide Bearcats 

3-Minute Read   

Girls

West Adelaide Bearcats Under 16s

Tournament Result: 1st – Gold Medal (Kumon NJC)

The first of two teams from SA to upset the high level fancies from across the border. The Bankstown Bruins from east, Gippsland United and Casey Cavs were amongst the national favourites but they obviously missed our girls from SA in this one. The Bearcats went 3-0 through the minor rounds before their biggest win of the weekend was against the Melbourne Tigers which saw them get into an all SA affair with the Mavs. They took that one out 53-35 in a clean sweep of the weekend.

South Adelaide Panthers Under 12s

Tournament Result: 2nd – Silver Medal (Kumon NJC)

It was a dominant weekend for the two top teams of the age bracket with both Panthers and their grand final opponents the Kilsyth Cobras boasting a combined 15-0 record coming into the tournament. The Panthers rolled their way to a 5-0 record with the two giants of U12 meeting in the grand final. The Panthers went down in an absolute thriller 32-34 but came from 6 points down with two minutes to go tying the scores with 15 seconds left. The Cobras struck and it was enough for them to hang on to get the gold.

Eastern Mavericks Under 16s

Tournament Result: 2nd – Silver Medal (Kumon NJC)

In fairness to the Mavs, they had the much tougher run in their pool games playing all the favourites across their weekend so their performances despite coming up just short at the final hurdle were outstanding. They had to knock off Casey in the pool game 46-42 then play the Bruins in the semi-final where they won 56-50. It was a really impressive silver medal performance from these beasts from the east.

Eastern Mavericks U12s

Tournament Result: 3rd (Nunawading A)

Another solid performing girls outfit was from the Mavs. In Pool A they were a stones throw away from a place in the final going 4-1 and coming up three points short 26-29 to the runner-ups in Knox Raiders.

Eastern Mavericks U14s

Tournament Result: 4th (Kumon NJC)

One of the next highest finishes was the Mavs U14 Girls in a tough competition. The Mavs went 2-1 through the minors defeating Keilor Thunder and Sydney Comets then had huge wins over Sandringham Sabres and just came up short to the Melbourne Tigers in the semi-final 56-60. They finished up to Diamond Valley Eagles to claim 4th place in a stacked competition.

Boys

South Adelaide Under 12s

Tournament Result: 2nd – Silver Medal (Kumon NJC)

The Panthers from a national perspective were considered outsiders with the favourites considered to be Casey, Bulleen Boomers and the Sydney Comets. Despite a 3-0 record in Pool A, the Panthers entered the finals as underdog knocked off Bulleen 48-41 before going down to a strong Casey outfit 65-44. They fought it out pretty hard deep into the fourth quarter of that one.

North Adelaide Rockets U12s

Tournament Result: 3rd (Kumon NJC)

U12s were well represented by SA at the business end and this Rockets team were right there at the end as well. They went through their pool games 3-0 drawing a quarter final against Camberwell winning 65-60 to setup some tough games against one of the pre-tournament favourites in Casey. They went down 55-62 but not without a fight leading at one point 50-32 before the Cavs ran them down. The Rockets through a big second quarter then beat another favourite in Bulleen to claim the Bronze for SA.

Woodville Warriors U14s

Tournament Result: 4th (Kumon NJC)

One of the Warriors most successful teams of the weekend. They knocked off contender Ballarat Miners in the minor rounds to zip to 3-0 and place themselves in a very good position. The Warriors were considered a smokey for the tournament and continued to hold that belief as they knocked off the South Adelaide Panthers in an SA showdown 64-58 then lost a close one to surprise packet Whittlesea Pacers 60-53. They played off for the bronze and came up short 69-61 to Sandringham.

Central District Lions U18s

Tournament Result: 3rd (Nunawading A)

One of the best performances in the Nunawading tournament came from the Lions U18 group with a 4-1 record through the minor rounds. They ended up third just missing the finals by a loss to eventual champion Kilsyth Cobras finishing second in Pool B.

Forestville Eagles U16s

Tournament Result: 6th (Kumon NJC)

It was another strong pool of teams in the U16 boys with the Eagles going 2-1 through the minor rounds defeating Canberra and Waverley. They eventually ran into one of the favourites in Dandenong Rangers in the quarters going down 81-63 but then got a big win in the minor semi over Kilsyth 70-58. They played off for 5th and just fell short to Keilor but it was a strong performance from the gold and blue.

These are just ten highlighted performances but I think you’ll agree it was a strong showing from the SA teams in 2022 in these championships and tournaments.

Checkout all results of Kumon NJC and Nunawading here (Note no data available for Mildura Tri-State)

https://www.playhq.com/basketball-victoria/org/national-junior-classic/national-junior-classic-2022/89870d33

https://www.playhq.com/basketball-victoria/org/melbourne-east-basketball-association-meba/nunawading-spectres-queens-birthday-tournament-2022/a48d8524

Sources from Pick and Roll

https://pickandroll.com.au/p/national-junior-classic-the-top-contenders

Izzy Borlase already with one WNBL game under her belt will definitely be in consideration for more after her AJC U20s Performance. Picture by Trevor Kinross 

3-Minute Read   

Girls

South Australia Red

Tournament Result: 2nd (Pool A 3-1 (finished 2nd) – Silver Medal

Highlights: It was very good week for the Red team with their most impressive win coming in the minor rounds against Western Australia 72-53. In that game they managed to keep Mia Jacobs and Ellie Newman quiet and while a loss a solid performance against the Victorian team 69-57 was a quality outing. Previously listed Forestville Eagle COE player Izzy Borlase was a superstar throughout the championships averaging 18 points at 48 percent per game, 9.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists while a number of Eagles in Jess Simons, Maddy Freer and Bianca Stasinowsky stacked the stats sheet as well. The big win came over NSW in the semi-final 75-50 with Borlase (23 points and 17 rebounds), Stasinowsky (13 points and 6 rebounds) and Freer (13 points and 12 rebounds) coming up big. The championships ended with a silver medal pushing the Victorians to a 47-65 result. Jess Simons had a high quality final with 23 points on 5-9 triples while Borlase chalked up 13 points and 12 rebounds to no doubt be player of the championships for SA Red.

Surprise Packet: No real surprise but Hatti Cox of the South Adelaide Panthers really took her game to another level during the championships. She had big games for the Red team to the back end of the week including 12 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in the semi-final against NSW. She’s off to college later this year so when she returns she’s destined to be a bonafide star possibly in consideration for some higher honours in her future.

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.

///

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/

Want to hear more about what’s happening with Basketball in “all” of South Australia?

Subscribe for

$5 a month or take up our annual subscription options as a once off

or jump on our “SA Basketball Story” subscription for $20 a month, with a chance to win an article written about your basketball story.