Three different associations have taken out the three respective age group competitions at the inaugural Southern Design Sydney Uni Flames Easter Basketball Tournament played on the Flames home court, the Sydney Uni Sports & Aquatic Centre (SUSAC) over the weekend.
The tournament proved to be a great success, as 120 young girls from Sydney’s best junior competition in NSW battled it out, before the U16 Norths Bears, U14 Penrith Panthers and U12 Hornsby Spiders were crowned champions on Sunday afternoon. Each age group contained four teams – participating associations included Norths, Penrith, Hornsby, Liverpool, Newcastle and Manly. The tournament began on Saturday morning and concluded on Sunday afternoon.
In the U16 division the Norths Bears were crowned champions after a hard fought 61-56 victory over the Sutherland Sharks. The Sharks, who dominated the first half thanks to some exceptional play from Tylah Mundine and Madeleine Norris, went into the half time break leading 25-20. Some good play from Norths saw them fight their way back into the game on the back of some solid team play and some great shooting by Maja Jurlina, who scored 16 of her 19 points in the second half.
The tournament featured close games throughout the two days, and it was pleasing to see the improvement of the Hornsby Spiders, Penrith Panthers and the Liverpool Spartans during the course of the weekend.
The Penrith Panthers proved too strong over the weekend in the U14 division, finishing undefeated after four games. The girls from the west showed why they will be a threat in the Sydney Championships with a great all round performance from all players throughout the weekend.
Manly and Hornsby fought hard all weekend and showed improvement both individually and as a team. Manly fought hard in both games against the Spiders, and came away with two wins to take second spot in the tournament.
The skill level of the nine and ten year old girls on show across all four teams in the U12 division was very promising, but ultimately it was the undefeated Hornsby Spiders who proved to be too strong. The Spiders, who defeated the Sutherland Sharks in Sunday’s grand final, showed why they hold top spot on the Sydney Championship ladder proving that teamwork wins games of basketball.
Newcastle and Penrith fought it out for the minor positions with Penrith eventually coming away with a 38–22 victory.
Flames Head Coach Karen Dalton was extremely pleased with the weekend.
“The tournament was a great success and it was fantastic to see the girls individually develop as well as their teams over the course of the weekend,” said Dalton.
“We can’t wait to run the tournament again next Easter, with even more young girls from NSW competing for their associations in 2014.”
“I was also like to thank Flames players Alicia Poto – who spent the entire weekend helping out – and also Katie-Rae Ebzery who also assisted with the tournament on Sunday. Alicia and Katie-Rae are excellent role models and the young girls loved having them around.”
Please see below a list of coach awards, which were presented on Sunday afternoon.
U/16s
Hornsby Spiders: Hannah Chen
Penrith Panthers: Abbey Williams
Sutherland Sharks: Maddy Norris
Norths Bears: Tatiana Dumas
U/14s
Hornsby Spiders: Cicely Larsen
Penrith Panthers: Tiarna Watts
Manly: Phillipa Graham
U/12s
Hornsby: Erica Pitman
Newcastle: Chyra Evans
Penrith: Alison Brincat
Sutherland: Mya Davies
