The Victoria Metropolitan Under-18 Women were crowned the national champions at last week’s Australian Junior Championships in Ballarat.
With our Victoria Metropolitan Under-18 Men (silver) and Kevin Coombs Cup wheelchair basketball team (bronze), it made for a successful return to the national arena, held at the recently redeveloped Selkirk Stadium in Ballarat.
The Victoria Metropolitan Under-18 Women remained undefeated throughout the tournament, highlighting their scintillating play on the way to earning the title.
Going one better from the silver medal 2021 campaign, the 2022 Victoria Metropolitan Under-18 Women shone across the tournament, capping it off with a 69-64 grand final triumph over Queensland South.
The Metro women were led ably by Amy Kurkowski (20 points, seven rebounds), Hannah Wickstrom (20 points, eight rebounds) and Paige Burrows (16 points, six assists).
“To finally put a bow on this championship and getting a gold medal is phenomenal, it’s a great group,” head coach Michael Brookens said. “Going through a competitive week, putting this team together with all the uncertainties of whether someone will get COVID or so on and so forth, there was a lot of anxiety throughout the week.
“This group means a lot to me as I know they’ve all been through a lot – for eight of them this was their first championships ever and have been through plenty over the last two years not being able to compete.
“So for them to get to realise a dream of theirs and to be the coach to lead them there means a lot.”
In a spectacular grand final, our Victoria Metropolitan Under-18 Men unfortunately fell short 78-82 against Queensland South. Taking the silver medal after an extraordinary week of action, the Metro Men were led in the finale by Tristan Devers (18 points, seven rebounds), Luke Fennell (14 points) and Joel Foxwell (12 points).
Following a tough semi-final defeat against Queensland, the Victorian wheelchair basketball team rallied on Sunday to defeat South Australia 77-24 to take out the bronze medal.
Featuring Australian Paralympian Isabel Martin and a number of Australian U25 men’s squad members including Jaylen Brown, Tomas Klein, James Weinert and Mitch Bond, the side shone throughout the week to battle their way into the bronze medal clash.
Jaylen Brown (35 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists, 10 steals) shone in the bronze medal game to notch a quadruple-double – a rarity within Australian Junior Championships basketball to cap off a stellar week for the rising star Victorian. James Weinert (23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists) also had a big finish to the tournament.
With a challenging week on their spiritual home court, the Victoria Country Under-18 Women finished on a high note to take out the 5/6 Playoff with a 85-63 win over NSW Metropolitan. Leading the side in the final clash of the tournament were Jemma Amoore (17 points) and Sienna Harvey (17 points).
The Victoria Country Under-18 Men finished the tournament in sixth, narrowly missing out on the 5/6 Playoff victory. Ben Waller (17 points), Corey Hastings (14 points) and Lucas Impey (14 points) shone to cap off impressive tournaments for the Country Men.
The first Australian Junior Championships event of 2022, held at Selkirk Stadium, Ballarat, saw five teams compete for Victoria, Victoria Country and Victoria Metropolitan respectively in the Kevin Coombs Cup (wheelchair basketball) and Under-18 tournaments.
The next Australian Junior Championships – featuring the Under-20 and Ivor Burge (players with an intellectual disability) tournaments – commences on Tuesday 26 April in Mackay, Queensland.
