Queensland Takes Silver at National Championships

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Queensland has come away with two silver medals from the Under 16 Australian Junior Basketball Championships, held last week in Tamworth.
The Queensland South women’s team narrowly missed out on being crowned National Champions on Saturday 14 July, with their close match against Victoria Metro going down to the wire with Victoria coming out on top, 53 - 50.
Bridget O’Brien, from Seahawks GC (Gold Coast), shot a game-high 20 points for Queensland South, during the team’s only loss for the Championships.
The Queensland South men’s team took out seven of their nine matches during the championships, with both losses - including Saturday’s final - coming at the hands of reigning champions, Victoria Metro.
The Victorians won the match 70 – 46, with William McDowell-White from Southern Districts Spartans (Brisbane) top-scoring for Queensland South, with 21 points.
Both the Queensland North men’s and women’s teams finished tenth on their respective ladders, the men conceding their playoff match to SA Metro 87 – 46, while the Queensland North women went down fighting to New Zealand in their classification match, 53 – 40.
Basketball Queensland Chief Executive Officer Graham Burns said Queensland’s results from this year’s Under 16 championships were some of the state’s best in many, many years.
“It’s been two years since we came away with a medal, with the Queensland South girls taking silver at the 2010 Under 16 Australian Junior Championships.
“Given the high quality of teams from across Australia competing this year, to have two of our teams to finish second in the country is a very good result indeed, and shows the improvements we have made to our High Performance programs at the junior level are paying off.
“I congratulate all four of our teams, including the coaches and managers, for their hard-work during this year’s championships, and hope players continue to pursue basketball at the state representative level,” Mr Burns said

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