2025 Basketball Australia U16 National Championships: Watch Day 6 action from all courts

Two powerhouse states have kept a clean record through the pool stages, while one southern side didn’t miss out on its final shot to make the play-offs. Watch the REPLAYS from Day 6.

Two powerhouse states ensured they finished the pool stages undefeated, while a couple of teams made the most of their last-ditch shot at reaching the play-offs on a massive day at the Basketball Australia Under-16 National Championships.

Victoria Metro and Queensland South finished off the pool stage in the same way they started it, while SA Country boys have breathed life into their medal hopes.

All that remains now is the play-off stages with quarter-finals tipping off on Friday.

Check out all the replays from three courts of action below, and scroll down to find out the things we learned from Day 6 in Bendigo.

REPLAYS

COURT 1

Northern Territory v Victoria Country (B)

Queensland North v Victoria Metro (G)

South Australia Metro v Victoria Metro (B)

Western Australia Metro v South Australia Country (G)

Australian Capital Territory v New South Wales Metro (G)

COURT 4

Tasmania v New South Wales Country (B)

South Australia Metro v Queensland South (G)

Western Australia Metro v South Australia Country (B)

Western Australia Country v Tasmania (G)

COURT 6

Victoria Country v New South Wales Country (G)

Australia Capital Territory v New South Wales Metro (B)

Queensland North v Western Australia Country (B)

Queensland South v Northern Territory (B)

THINGS WE LEARNED

You really need a strong heart when it comes to basketball.

On a wild Thursday, two sides scraped into finals contention on the back of thrilling one-point wins in the final round of pool games.

South Australia Country managed to hold on by the tips of their fingernails despite back-to-back late three-pointers from WA Metro to take an 80-79 win.

The one-point victory meant they leapfrogged their rivals into fourth spot and a quarter-final date with unbeaten Victoria Metro.

The SA Country girls, who were saddled with the exact same win and go through scenario, didn’t fare as well as their boys counterparts, going down to a WA Metro side sparked by a brilliant 13-point cameo from Amelia Trower.

South Australia Metro girls almost pulled off a shock upset over the unbeaten Queensland South with an Izzy Daly hail mary match winner agonisingly bouncing off the back board as the siren sounded.

Daly had hit one three-pointer to get them within two in the final seconds, taking her game tally to 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Sometimes you just can’t account for size.

Stevan Tasic might not be the tallest man at the Under-16s National Championships, but the Victoria Metro big man uses every millimetre of his 195cm frame to his advantage.

Tasic is among the tournament’s top five point-scorers and rebounders, and continued that rich vein of form as the Victorians closed out the pool stages unbeaten.

He finished with 22 points, shooting at .500 from the floor, while also bringing down 12 boards with eight of those on the offensive end.

The Victorians’ shooting was off in the win over South Australia Metro, flailing at 44 per cent from the floor and 29 per cent beyond the arc, but with Tasic on the glass they can rely on getting that extra attempt.

Tasic is not the only big man making the most of his time in Bendigo with Tasmania’s own Huon Pine Johnty Dynan absolutely dominating at both ends of the floor.

The Tasmanian captain struggled in the final pool game with only nine points and 11 rebounds, the near double-double his lowest output for the week by some margin.

Silent assassins keep pulling the strings

There is something to be said about the quiet achievers.

While plenty of big names have taken the headlines for their incredible point hauls and glass-shattering rebounding, two unsung heroes steered their respective teams into finals contention on Thursday.

NSW Metro’s Rykkah Mareta-Manu was critical to her team’s 53-point triumph over the ACT.

The young playmaker was dishing the rock like an over-worked waitress, setting up plenty of opportunities for the players around her.

While she might not have troubled the scorers herself, Mareta-Manu had eight assists and a steal, and finished with a +34 point impact in her 17.5 minutes on the floor.

Her efforts were mirrored by the work of Victoria Metro general Jasmine Jones.

Jones, who is the tournament’s leading assist getter, finished with five assists and four rebounds to go with her nine points as the Victorians capped off an unbeaten run through the pool stages.

PREVIEW

The final day of group stage action will also be the last chance for a number of sides to impress on the road to quarter-finals at the 2025 Basketball Australia Under-16 National Championships.

With the business end of the tournament set to kick off on Friday, a number of Thursday’s match-ups could be set to determine the makeup of those quarter-final matches across both the boys and girls competition.

It will also be the final game to shine for those sides unable to qualify.

13 games across three courts will once again be broadcast live and exclusive on KommunityTV, with all the action tipping off from 10am.

Catch all the action from Court 1 in the player above and scroll down for Court 4, Court 6 and the full tournament schedule below.

One state heading into Thursday’s action with a new found confidence will be the boys and girls outfits from Tasmania, who both notched up maiden wins on Wednesday.

While both are likely out of finals contention – depending on results of other games, they’ll be hoping to finish their campaigns with victories.

The girls will kick off the Court 4 action against Western Australia Country at 10am, while the boys will wrap it up on the same court against New South Wales Country from 4pm.

A clash that could determine who makes the girls quarter-finals is the 12pm battle between Western Australia Metro and South Australia Country, also on Court 4.

The two sit equal on wins and losses – 1-3 – heading into the final day of play with a victory the best shot at ensuring a potential finals berth.

Every match of the Basketball Australia Under-16 and National Championships will be exclusively live streamed on KommunityTV from July 5-13.It is the third of five national junior pathways events on the Basketball Australia calendar, following the under-20 and under-18 nationals earlier this year.

Originally published as 2025 Basketball Australia U16 National Championships: Watch Day 6 action from all courts