Live stream: NSW Metro girls eye success at Basketball Australia U18 and Junior Wheelchair National Championships

‘Any combination of those girls is a winning combination.’ They won the U16 title two years ago, now nine of the 10 will chase national glory at the BA U18 Championships LIVE from April 7.

Two years after taking out the Basketball Australia U16 girls national title, the NSW Metro dream team is back together and ready to do it all again, this time at U18 level.

Coach Tim Hill is once again at the helm of a squad he describes as ‘very deep’.

“I don’t think there’s one star player,” Hill said.

“Any combination of those 10 girls is a winning combination.”

U18s, Junior Wheelchair National Champs HUB: Daily links, key info, full schedule

The NSW Metro girls are set to tip off their 2024 campaign on Sunday, April 7 against South Australia Country, with all matches from the U18 National Championships to be available to watch LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on KommunityTV.

Check out the LIVE STREAM schedule below.

Hill has put together a team stacked with experience and talent. Olivia Johnston (Manly) is the only player not part of the 2022 championship winning squad and also the only one not to have competed at a nationals before.

Four players are part of the current U17 Sapphires squad, with Jessie-May Hall (Hornsby Spiders), Lucy Mead (Manly), Ruby Perkins and Zoe Jackson (both Norths Bears) all part of the training camp preparing for the U17 World Cup later this year in Mexico.

With so much talent at his disposal, Hill said the early stages of the nationals will be about managing minutes and keeping the girls as fresh as possible.

Jessie-May Hall.

Zoe Jackson.

“Essentially, managing the minutes of your star players in the pool games is just as much of a strategy as winning the games themselves,” Hill said.

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“We need to be playing all 10 players on the court for those first few games, then if we need to reduce it to seven or eight before the final, then you do that.”

Hall was the star for the NSW Metro team when they won the 2022 title by SA Metro in the final, averaging 24.12 points, 5.62 rebounds and 6.38 assists per game.

She led the scoring again last year after moving up to the U18 competition with an average of 17.38 points per game.

Perkins is also set to be a key contributor after a solid 2023 Junior Premier League season with Norths, averaging 16.06 points per game, but is one of the players nursing an injury two weeks out from tip off.

“We’ve definitely had a few injury concerns, but no one is out so far,” Hill said.

Ruby Perkins.

Lucy Mead.

“Ruby has had a thigh issue, Lucy has had shin splints and Abbey Vallance rolled her ankle, so we’re just hoping to be healthy.”

However, Hill says he’s confident in the squad’s ability to be competitive no matter who is on the court.

“Some players are less replaceable than others, but I’d like to think we could win if any single person dropped out,” he said.

“Losing Jessie-May or Ruby would make life a whole lot more difficult, but I’d like to think we’d still potentially win.”