Home team’s double leads day one of Basketball Qld u16 Girls State Championships

The state’s best young hoops talents hit the court on day 1 of the Basketball Queensland Under-16 Girls State Championships. WATCH THE REPLAYS

Can the home team Brisbane Capitals get off to a perfect start? Can the Gold Coast bounce back from a heavy defeat?

All those questions will be answered as part of The Courier-Mail’s first day of coverage for the Basketball Queensland Under-16 Girls State Championships at Auchenflower Stadium on Tuesday.

The Logan Thunder will head into the tournament, which ends on Friday, as the favourites following a dominant SQJBC season that included a dominant victory over the Gold Coast Waves in the grand final.

Gold Coast Waves young gun Emma Petrie.

But the Waves, who will face the Sunshine Coast Rip on day one of our livestream, are one of the teams who can challenge the Thunder after only falling to their rivals by single digits in both of their regular season match-ups.

The home side Capitals will also play both of their day one games on the stream as they take on Rockhampton and Cairns.

All games on Auchenflower Stadium’s court one will be streamed live with the schedule featuring match-ups from all divisions.

REPLAY: DIV 2 - BRISBANE CAPITALS SILVER DEF TOOWOOMBA MOUNTAINEERS 85-34

Brisbane Capitals Silver started their Division 2 tournament in dominant fashion to tip-off our livestream for the girls competition as they recorded a 51-point victory over the Toowoomba Mountaineers.

Five Capitals players scored in double figures in the match with the home team’s defensive pressure forcing turnovers from Toowoomba which led to easy transition baskets for Brisbane.

The Mountaineers were able to stay competitive in the first half but the Capitals consistency on both ends of the floor proved too much to overcome.

Toby Stolberg led the scoring for Brisbane with 18 points while Claire Blucher (14), Sara Masoe (12), Anna Bassett (11) and Ruby Mazzotta (11) all hot double figures.

Caitlyn Bailey was impressive for Toowoomba with 10 points.

REPLAY: DIV 3 - NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 2 DEF LOGAN THUNDER BLUE 48-41

The Northside Wizards survived a late push from the Logan Thunder to open their week with a hardfought seven-point win at Auchenflower Stadium.

Both teams matched each other almost basket for basket for the first quarter until Northside capitalised on their open opportunities on the offensive end to run out to a double digit lead at halftime.

The Wizards’ momentum continued in the third quarter with the Thunder struggling to score.

But the start of the final period was a completely different story as Logan picked up their intensity on the defensive end with deflections and steals leading to runaway layups as the gap closed to as little as six points with five minutes remaining.

However, Northside were able to steady the ship and make several crucial baskets to close out the game.

Georgia Lonsdale led the scoring for the Wizards with nine points while Anabelle (16 points) and Shanelle Carlson (10 points) top scored for Logan.

REPLAY: BRISBANE CAPITALS GOLD v ROCKHAMPTON CYCLONES

The Brisbane Capitals completed a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback to pip the Rockhampton Cyclones in the last minute of the best game on day one.

With the match-up having big finals implications for both teams, Brisbane and Rockhampton both needed victory to try as they fight for second place in Pool A behind the dominant Logan Thunder, who are undefeated so far this season.

Neither team could separate themselves from the other for the first three quarters but it was the foes from central Queensland who were made a run midway through the final period to hold a four-point lead.

And with just 60 seconds left in the game, the Capitals trailed by two points on their home floor but a brilliant out of bounds play, which led to an easy layup, levelled the scores with just 25 seconds left.

Rockhampton had their chances but some crucial turnovers allowed Brisbane to attack and make two clutch free throws to then hold a two-point lead of their own.

From there, Brisbane closed it out with several more free throws in a victory that could propel the home side to a semi-finals appearance.

Violet Smith and Lili Schmitt both had 15 points for the Capitals while Kate Greany and Sophie Driscoll led the scoring for the Cyclones with 14 each.

REPLAY: GOLD COAST WAVES v SUNSHINE COAST RIP

A dominant display from the Gold Coast Waves in their opening match of the tournament showed exactly why they are one of the favourites to take out the Division 1 title.

After falling to Logan in the recent SQJBC grand final, the Waves were looking to return to form against the Sunshine Coast Rip and they did that, recording a 43-point win early on day one at Auchenflower Stadium.

Both teams started slowly with the Rip’s physical defence not allowing the Waves to get going in the first quarter.

But Gold Coast’s class eventually showed as they picked up the pace offensively and controlled the tempo of the game to extend their margin to more than 20 points at the main break.

The Sunshine Coast struggled to regain any momentum from there with the Waves running away with the victory and putting themselves in prime position for top spot in Pool B.

Emma Petrie and Jaya Lowe led the scoring tor the Waves with 16 each while Kiama Tahere (15) and Jessica Smith (14) also both scored in double figures.

REPLAY: SOUTHERN DISTRICT TITANTS V BUNDABERG BEARS

The Southern Districts Titans have another Division 2 gold medal in their sights after an impressive first day of the State Championships which finished with a 82-40 victory over the Bundaberg Bears.

Coming off an easy win over the South West earlier in the day and just a fortnight after winning the SQJBC grand final, the Titans were in red-hot form from the tip-off as the Bears struggled to deal with their defensive pressure and ball movement.

With Annika Scott (23 points) leading the way on the offensive end, Southern Districts were simply too good and end the first day of the tournament with a combined winning margin of more than 70 points across their two games.

Mia Baker was also impressive for the Titans with 15 points.

REPLAY: BRISBANE CAPITALS BRONZE V REDCITY PRIDE

REPLAY: BRISBANE CAPITALS GOLD V CAIRNS DOLPHINS

DAY ONE STREAM SCHEDULE (April 6)

8am: Div 2 – Brisbane Capitals Silver v Toowoomba Mountaineers

9.30am: Div 3 – Northside Wizards 2 v Logan Thunder Blue

11am: Div 1 – Brisbane Capitals Gold v Rockhampton Cyclones

12.30pm: Div 1 – Gold Coast Waves v Sunshine Coast Rip

2pm: Div 2 – Southern Districts Titans v Bundaberg Bears

3.30pm: Div 3 – Brisbane Capitals Bronze v RedCity Pride

5pm: Div 1 – Brisbane Capitals Gold v Cairns Dolphins

DAY TWO STREAM SCHEDULE (April 7)

8am: Div 3 – Brisbane Capitals Bronze v Moreton Bay Fire

9.30am: Div 1 – Brisbane Capitals Gold v Gold Coast breakers

11am: Div 2 – North Gold Coast Seahawks v Brisbane Capitals Silver

12.30pm: Div 2 – Southern Districts Titans v Sunshine Coast Phoenix

2pm: Div 1 – Gold Coast Breakers v Cairns Dolphins

3.30pm: Div 1 – Sunshine Coast Rip v Mackay Meteorettes

5pm: Div 2 – Brisbane Capitals Silver v Gold Coast Rollers