State Champs Review – Weekend #3 – U15 Girls and U13 Boys
Our Wolfpack State Champs teams were back in action on Saturday and Sunday! This weekend of games we got to see the U15 girls and U13 boys play, teams 2 through 5 and we had lots of great action.
The U15-2 Girls get us started and after an impressive 3-0 start to the weekend, looked poised for a final run. Starting with a hard-fought victory over Willetton 17-14, behind 8 big points from Jaylyn Basaran. A balanced scoring effort drove the Wolfpack over Suns in game 2, leading to a 33-13 victory. Bethany Georgiu was the leading scorer with 8 points as we dispatched of Hills 1s team 27-19. In game 4 we matched up with the Geraldton Buccaneers and despite our efforts, we came up short 16-18. This put us 3-1 against the 4-0 Cockburn 2s with the winner making the semifinals. It was a very scrappy game that had the Wolfpack trailing by 3 at halftime. In the waning moments Jorja Ralph made a field goal to even the score at 16-16. The next possession Jaylyn Basaran was fouled and made both her free throws to put the Wolves up 2. Cockburn answered by with a 2 of their own and the game ended in a tie, unfortunately eliminating our U15-2 team from finals. It was great to see our team have so many close games as they build towards WABL season.
The U15-3 Girls had quite a weekend themselves! Starting with a 26-16 victory with T’yanna Keating and Asha Jennings as top scorers. The good form continued with a 39-7 victory of Eagles, setting up game 3 against Albany Raiders. Andi Morris and T’yanna Keating had 8 points each to spearhead the charge of the Wolves as we were able to prevail 32-14. After 2 more decisive victories over Suns and the Busselton Blazers, U15-3 Girls advanced to the semi-finals against Binar. After a quality first half had the Wolfpack leading 14-7, Binar caught some rhythm and momentum in the 2nd half and we fell 19-24 despite our efforts to claw back into the game. Although it wasn’t the result that they wanted, the team can take some solace in a 5-1 weekend with plenty to build upon.
The U15-4 Girls started their campaign with a 20-11 victory over Kalgoorlie, Amelia Albrecht the leading scorer with 6 pts. Next up were the Hills Raiders 2s who we defeated 24-5 behind 6 points from Kiiana Nelson-Graham and 5 points from Indiana Hobbs. Our next matchup was with the Perth Redbacks and we were able to build a 14-point halftime lead and hold on for a 27-9 victory behind 5 points from Rianna Sudano and 8 points from Amelia Albrecht. Our final game of group play would be a low scoring affair with Wolves trailing 6-10 at halftime. The defence tightened up and we were able to outlast the Perry Lakes Hawks 16-14. In our semi-finals matchup with Lakeside, we trailed at halftime 4-10 and were able to make a surge in the 2nd half. We fought ferociously until the final buzzer but game up just short against the eventual Grand Final winner, 11-13.
The U15-5 Girls had a tough opening opponent in eventual Grand Final winners, the Narrogin Nets. The 2nd matchup would be with Eagles and we were able to come through 24-19 behind Abbie Bowerman’s 7 points and 4 apiece for Maya Liesis, Lucy Knights, Aleisha Kelly, and Lily Henderson. In the next game, against Warwick, we found ourselves trailing 9-17 at the half and battles back in the 2nd period behind balance contributions. We were able to win the 2nd half 12-4 and a final score of 21-21. Although our last game against Lakeside was aa 15-26, there were plenty of bright spots including, 5 points from Lily Henderson and 4 points from Lucy Knights. With a halftime deficit of 9 points, we were able to hold steady in the 2nd half, falling 15-26 at the end of the game.
It was a great weekend of basketball or our U15 Girls group amassing a record of 13-5 and 2 draws!
The U13-5 Boys acquitted themselves well in division 4 this past weekend. Following a tough first game against Grand Finals Cockburn Cougars that we lost by double figures we were able to defeat Margaret River Hawks 27-26. William Scott exploded for a huge 15-point performance. Next up the Magic, would we were able to defeat 44-20 behind 8 points from Cruz Carlson and 6 points from Riley Batterham. Our final game of group play was against the redbacks and it was again William Scott who led the charge with 11 points, backed up by 5 points from Witahana Pakau. We prevailed 31-22 in a game that we have control of from start to finish. 3-1 on the weekend, playing up a division is quite the feat!
The U13-4 Boys played in division 3 and also matched up with eventual Grand Final winners in their first match, the Busselton Blazers. We were defeated by double digits. We rebounded against the East Perth team 3, coming out victorious 31-26 with Zack Snart leading the scoring charge at 7 points, with James Fairhead and Dylan Gates managing 6 points each. Daniel Norberger exploded in game 3 with 18 points in a 52-18 route of Albany Raiders. Our final game against the Harvey Heat was nearly even at halftime, trailing by just 4 points. The bottom fell out a bit in the 2nd half and we lost by double digits despite a tremendous effort from the boys.
The U13-3 Boys tipped off their division 2 tournament with a huge win over the Eagles 2s team by a score of 40-10. Charlie Connolly and Liam Adeline had 9 and 8 points respectively. In game 2, we were held in check by a quality Lakeside Lightning team, defeated 22-31. Game 3 was one of the most impressive of the weekend, coming away with a hard-fought victory of Redback 2s 31-25, with Liam Adeline delivering double digit points. Our final game on Sunday morning was against the Geraldton Buccaneers and it was a nail-biter! Up just 2 at the half the team managed to stave off the 2nd half charge and secure a 26-25 victory. Zion Ochieng scored the games final basket and converting his free throw for an and-1 that put the Wolfpack up for good.
The U13-2 Boys clashed with the Suns in the opening game of their weekend. We won handiliy behind 16 points from Hayden Montgomery and 12 from Michael Van Blitterswyk. Next up would be the Flames and again it was Michael Van Blitterswyk who was dominate inside scoring 17 points as the Wolves won 50-26. A balanced scoring effort put the Wolves past the Lakeside Lighting 37-14 in game 3 of group play. The Bunbury Bears were a formidable opponent in game 4, as we were able to secure just a 2 point lead by halftime. Hayden Montgomery scored 10 and Griff Gardiner poured in 9 points of his own to propel the Wolves to a 36-28 win. A semi-final matchup with the Cockburn Cougars was next up and the team’s intensity from the beginning was clear. Ashton Naylor, Griffin Gardiner and Michael Van Blitterswyk each amassed 7 points in the 35-28 victory. In the Grand Final against Tigers, a couple breaks of the game went against us early and we trailed 16-24 going to the break. We maintained our edge and fought valiantly to get back into the game but credit to the opposition as they were able to keep the distance and eliminate us from the tournament.
The U13 Boys managed a 13-5 weekend with 3 of the 5 losses to the Division Grand Final Champions.
What a weekend for Wolfpack Basketball!