ECHUCA’S junior Pirates basketball teams have shone at a tournament in Wodonga, with two teams winning their respective grand finals.
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The under 12A girls and under 12A boys both won their divisions in what was a highly competitive tournament.
U12A girls
Country Victoria’s most improved basketball team has been rewarded by taking out the girls’ division three championship at the recent Wodonga tournament.
Having finished runner-up three times this season, it was time to deliver on the big stage.
Coach Bec Kellet was delighted with the result. She said the girls executed their game plan beautifully throughout the tournament.
In addition, the younger girls got plenty of game time with Milla Ryan and Grace Napier really showing their defensive pressure and Sadie Jones (five points), Violet Agg (four points) and Georgia Beasley (two points) hitting the scoreboard.
Milly Morley showed she is ready to step up to compete with the older girls with 22 tournament points.
Diaz Agg (55 points), Jazz Milligan (48 points) and Elise Napier (35 points) showed great leadership when the games needed the older girls’ experience.
The girls were undefeated the whole tournament and went on to win the grand final against Wodonga 29-8.
Elise won the grand final MVP in what was an even team performance.
Special mention to Serena Morley, who stepped in to coach the first two games, and Jazz Milligan, who played the last two games with what was later diagnosed as a broken thumb.
The girls will continue to train hard in the lead-up to the country championships in the first weekend in April. If they continue their improvement, anything is possible.
U12A boys
We have had another fantastic tournament in Wodonga and took out our third grand final for the season, beating Swan Hill by nine points.
This team of boys is a very electric and exciting team to watch.
They have worked hard, continually attacking the ball and causing chaos to the opposition offence.
The boys were exhausted by the end of the weekend but they should all be proud of themselves and their coach for their successes during the season.
We made four grand finals and won three.
U12B boys
The boys finished their Pirates season with a successful tournament, just missing out on finals with two wins, one draw and a loss.
The boys played extremely well all weekend, with bigs Liam Beasley, Charlie Gotch and Jaxon Hogan holding their own against bigger opposition and scoring well.
Charlie Sutton was everywhere and able to perform lots of intercepts and important baskets throughout.
Tyler Jardine chased everything down exceptionally well, and Keoni Anderson, Paddy Oliver, Arli Walker, Arley Canham and energiser bunny Will Hatfield chased, harassed and created lots of turnovers and scoring opportunities.
The improvement in this team throughout the season has been amazing, with a huge thank you to Kaine Anderson and his assistant Luke Edwards for their dedication and commitment to the entire team.
U14B girls
The girls finished off the Pirates season on a positive note with two wins and two losses.
The highlight game was a one-point win over Albury, at the free throw line after the siren.
The girls’ success over this tournament was due to their tight defence, great teamwork and opportunities at the free throw line.
U14A boys
What a great weekend to finish off our 2019-20 Pirate season.
With no wins after the Bendigo tournament, the boys worked really hard at training over the past two weeks.
The first game we played a very strong Swan Hill.
Our defence was really strong, but unfortunately the opposition took the win.
We regrouped, took the positives from the last game and came back fighting in our second game against Bendigo.
We were pipped at the post, going down by four points.
The boys were a little disappointed after this loss, but fought like true soldiers against Seymour in the third game to come from behind and tie the game.
It was a thrilling game and all boys played beautifully as a team.
An early Sunday game against Tatura saw the boys take the momentum from the previous game and bring home our first win for the tournament.
Each game the side went from strength to strength and should be commended for sticking in there and working hard.
U14B boys
Our first game was against the CVBA Stars, a team we only just beat at the last tournament.
Our defense was strong and consistent, with turnovers caused by Zade Maschewski, Jai Hutson, Jude Phyland and Charlie Isaac.
Top scorers were Liam Shead with five points and Paddy Barrett and Charlie Isaac with four points each.
The Pirates played well to win by a comfortable margin of six points.
Game two saw us matching up to a very strong Wodonga team.
While there were some shooting highlights from Charlie Isaac with six points and Liam Shead and Jai Hutson with four points each, Wodonga was just too strong, winning by 14 points and knocking our confidence a little.
The third game against Cobram saw amazing defence from Paddy Barrett, Bailey Shead, Liam Shead and Charlie Isaac.
Jude Phyland top-scored with seven points, while Jai Hutson and Zade Maschewski were close behind with five points each.
The game was a nailbiter, with Echuca eventually defeating Cobram by only one point.
Our last game of the tournament and also the season was a blowout, with the points coming hard Echuca’s way.
Our boys were way too strong for their opponents, the Albury Cougars, running out winners 47-10.
Top scorers for Echuca were Jai Hutson with nine points and Bailey Shead, Liam Shead and Bodhi Griffiths with eight points each.
Excellent defence and offence came from Paddy Barrett with four points, while Jude Phyland made a beautiful swish shot for a three-point play.
It was a great way to finish the season and definitely the best game that the boys have played.
A huge thanks goes out to Josh Hutton for being an amazing coach and to Wayne Phyland for assisting.
U16A boys
The boys headed to Wodonga for the last tournament of the season.
Our first game against Yarra Mulwala Lakers saw the boys demonstrate some great patches of play.
Noah Langborne and Darby Wileman were very strong in defence and Jobe Shanahan scored a much needed three pointer to keep them within reach.
However, due to a few lapses in concentration, they went down by 10 points.
The second game of the day saw us face Wodonga Wolves.
The boys gave the Wolves a head start and then had to play catch-up for the remainder of the game.
It resulted in another loss, but only by nine points.
Coach Poulton was happy with the team’s efforts.
The final game for the day was against a very tall Albury side.
Albury was undefeated for the day, so the boys knew it was going to be a tough one.
With nothing to lose, they hit the ground running and were up by seven points within the first five minutes.
Hugh Byrne and Will Poulton led the way with aggression and endeavour.
The boys fought to the very end, but lost the lead in the dying minutes and ended up going down by three points.
Our last game for the tournament was against Wangaratta Warriors.
For the first five minutes it was an even competition but after that the Warriors started to slip away.
Declan Hallet fought strongly under the ring both offensively and defensively and he was well supported by Jack Morley and Hunter Wileman on the ground.
However, once again the boys missed too many lay-ups and foul shots and it cost them the game by two points.
We had no wins for the tournament, so it is back to the drawing board at training with a major focus on finishing.
Coach Poulton hinted lay-ups may play a major part in the training sessions leading up to country champs in March.
U16B boys
Echuca’s first match was against Yarra Mulwala Lakers.
Echuca came out firing, with Toby Coutts drawing the first fouls of the game, resulting in Echuca’s first points.
Strong defense in the first 10 minutes saw Echuca dominate under the ring, with Fleming, Coutts, Milburn and Hutton scoring.
The Lakers fought back to narrow the gap, with Echuca leading 17-13 going into half-time.
Echuca made a strong start to the second half, with Fleming, Stubbs, Connelly and Milburn taking control of the game and frustrating the opposition.
Excellent teamwork and patience saw the Pirates take control of the game.
Birthday boy Miller was on fire under the net in the second half as Echuca took its first win of the tournament 49-26.
Echuca played Lakes Entrance in the second game.
It was a fiery start to the game, with both teams hard defensively.
Shingles scored the first points of the game for Echuca at the seven-minute mark.
The first half saw the teams go goal for goal and Lakes Entrance was up by a point at half-time.
The Echuca boys came out strong in the second half and took control of the game.
It was a physical game, however, the boys stayed focused and worked together to win by 13 points.
Echuca faced Wangaratta in the third game. Both teams came out fast, but Echuca got four quick goals to lead by eight points in the opening minutes of the game.
It was excellent rebounding by Echuca at both ends of the court and the side took control to lead 23-7 at half-time.
In the second half Echuca continued to dominate both ends of the court, winning 45-27.
Game four saw Echuca play Cobram.
Echuca was determined to stay on top of the ladder and took control of the game from the onset.
Threes from Miller and Hutton, and strong driving by Fleming Stubbs, Coutts, Milburn and Connelly saw Echuca lead at half-time, 26-22.
It was excellent rebounding by Echuca, with Miller strong under the basket, pulling in rebounds and scoring, slowly widening the gap.
Great communication, shooting and teamwork saw the boys bridge the gap by 20 points, sending them to the top of their pool and into the semi-finals against CVBA.
Final score 54-30.
In the semi-finals, Echuca played a very tall CVBA side.
Both teams were competitive from the onset, however Echuca struggled to get past the two big men in the key.
Once they overcame this initial setback, their shots started to sink and Echuca closed the gap before going down by four points.
U16A girls
The girls started the tournament with a great win over Wangaratta, 38-18.
The next game was against Shepparton.
The girls played so well, even though we went down 26-36, with Charlotte Gould top scoring.
Game three was against Wodonga. After a very slow start, in true fighting spirit the girls got it back to 10 points with the final score 29-39.
Game four was against Bendigo and the girls were at their best, winning 34-19.
This win got us into the semi-finals against Wodonga.
It was another very slow start and Echuca was down by 10 with five minutes to go. But, as these girls so often do, they fought back to lose by just two points, 24-26.
Overall it was a great tournament and a perfect preparation for country champs.