National Championships: Victoria’s under-20 men and women join the Ivor Burge men and women in winning national titles

In a stunning result for Victorian basketball, four state teams made a clean sweep of the honours at last week’s national championships in Gosford.

Victoria’s under-20 men’s team. Picture: Basketball Victoria

In a stunning result for Victorian basketball, four state teams made a clean sweep of the honours at last week’s national championships in Gosford.

The under-20 men’s and women’s teams were joined by the men’s and women’s Ivor Burge teams in claiming the four gold medals up for grabs.

UNDER 20 MEN

Vics just too strong for South Australia

Victoria delivered a power-packed performance against South Australia to eke out a 72-59 win.

The Vics trailed at the half after two dogged quarters could scarcely split the two team.

Keli Leaupepe (16 points 10 rebounds), who started strongly with baseline work against South Australia’s talls, Josh Kunen (eight points, 12 rebounds) and Puoch Puoch (six points) were all good in the early going.

Victoria threw its size and strength at the South Australians and, though they responded early, they couldn’t match the Vics’ inside strength throughout the clash.

Sean Macdonald (nine points), Tyler Robertson (nine points) and Mitch Barry (eight points) then connected from outside to secure the title.

Victorian head coach Chris Anstey said the grand final win was the best performance of the week and highlighted how well the team had worked together.

“We got better as the week went on, we gelled.” he said. “There were some guys who hadn’t played much together and we hadn’t coached together and we felt we were able to put game plans in place that suited the boys and they executed exactly what we wanted them to do.

“I’m really, really proud of all of them for what they were able to do on the court but also what they were able to get done off the court as well.

“I think any time you put a Victorian singlet on it means a lot. I’ve never coached a Victorian team, I was an assistant with Darren Perry and I learned a lot about how to handle tournament play as a head coach and I’m very thankful for the two assistant coaches that I had.

“It does mean a lot. I wasn’t a Victorian junior so it was a part of my basketball career I didn’t have, so to have it in my early 40s with fantastic young men is really special.”

Victorian under-20 women. Picture: Basketball Victoria

UNDER 20 WOMEN

It was tough, but Vics get over Queensland

The best sides, the biggest stage – the only fitting finale for the under-20 women’s competition.

A loss earlier in the week to Queensland had fuelled Victoria’s efforts throughout the week.

It wasn’t easy but, in the end, Victoria surged to a 72-62 grand final triumph.

Victoria had to play smart to overcome the size and length of Jessica McDowell-White and the high-calibre guards in Hayley Andrews and Meila Goodchild.

After some early post-up success on McDowell-White, the Victorians went even shorter as the likes of Kiera Rowe (15 points), Steph Gorman (six points) starred.

The three-point shooting continued to play a part in Victoria’s tactics as Kara Tessari (nine points) capped her junior representative journey with a few more signature long bombs falling in from the outer edge.

Meanwhile Gorman and Jaz Shelley (nine points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) also savoured their shots from outside the arc to keep the pressure on the Queenslanders.

In the end, Victoria was able to out-grind the Queenslanders to successful defend their national championship crown.

Victorian bottom-ager Jaz Shelley was awarded the Bob Staunton Medal as the most valuable player of the tournament.

For coach Katrina Hibbert, it was an incredible feat to take the title and ensure a great group of players received the ultimate team accolade.

“We scouted our butts off last night – felt like we had some good footage,” Hibbert said. We knew that when we faced them last time we were fatigued, so a lot of the defensive errors that we made we adjusted so after that game we got a little bit more time to look at ourselves and see where we could fix some of our problems.

“They were great from the ACT game we got better, to the SA game and on to today – we knew they were going to come hard and we would have to build a wall for 40 minutes and just be relentless and the girls were brilliant.

“It’s a special group and I think it’s a credit to their parents for the way they handle themselves as they’re so professional. The girls are a credit to Basketball Victoria, through both programs in Country and Metro, for the way they approach tournaments and the attitude and efforts and the pride they take in playing for Victoria – so I think for their clubs as well. They’re really well-adjusted young ladies who were great representatives of Victoria.”

Victoria celebrates its win in the men’s Ivor Burge championships. Picture: Basketball Victoria)

IVOR BURGE MEN

Team effort gets Vics over the line in final

In the end a team-wide effort from the Victorian Ivor Burge men’s team put the South Australians away 90-63, a grand final win that wasn’t without its struggles.

The match had twists and turns throughout proceedings as Victoria dealt with its trump card, Jake De La Motte (28 points), encountering severe foul trouble.

Seating their tournament star for much of the game, including a vast amount of the third term, may have rattled lesser teams but the Victorian side had planned for the worst.

And it was a complete team performance that took the win.

When called upon, the next link in the chain held firm and did its part.

Cameron Slacik (10 points, 16 rebounds), Matthew Tuddenham (seven points, 11 rebounds) and Frazer Dawber (14 points, 10 rebounds) went to work under the basket to negate South Australia’s interior strength while the speed and baseline brilliance of Daniel Bell (13 points, nine rebounds), Ryan Briggs (nine points, five rebounds) and James Myers (six points, four rebounds) kept the offence ticking.

For those brief moments Victoria had him on the floor, De La Motte was extraordinary and rattled off 14 points in the first five minutes of the third term with shots from all parts of the arc.

Victorian Ivor Burge head coach Glen Jordan was thrilled with his side’s ability to grind out the win under trying circumstances.

“Absolutely – we got the depth, we believed in the depth and it’s been like that all week,” he said. “Come to the crunch we had to go deep and use our whole bench and they stood up as they have done all week.

“We tried to keep even minutes with everyone throughout the week so we were prepared for today.

“It’s well deserved without seeming cocky – we all worked hard.”

Victoria’s national championship winning Ivor Burge women’s team Picture: Basketball Victoria)

IVOR BURGE WOMEN

Vics wrap up clean sweep with a win over Japan

The Victorians had vanquished all other Australian teams, but one last challenge remained. While Victoria had already secured the championship, pride was on the line in the grand final against the visiting Japanese team and the Vics saluted 88-71.

Jessica McCulloch (36 points, 15 rebounds), Kate Zonneveld (26 points, 18 rebounds) and Dani Phillips (10 points, nine rebounds) were the three pillars Japan could not overcome, their height and ability to power through the key was too much for the smaller Japanese guards to handle.

A 50-14 rebound count – including 21 offensive boards – emphasised the size advantage.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing those as the Victorians had grind it out inside while the , however, as the Japanese nailed 14 from long range.

Victorian head coach Simon Robinson said his side played to its strengths perfectly and had worked hard to ensure this result could happen.

“Obviously size is our advantage – we can match them for speed but that’s something they’re probably better at than we are,” he said. “We tried to take that away as much as we could and play to our strengths. They shot the ball well, so we needed to make a few adjustments to counter that.

“Kate (Zonneveld)’s length is tremendous, especially in passing lanes and as a shot blocker. She’s been a great presence all tournament for us – this year and last year.

“Jess (McCulloch)’s finishing ability today was tremendous - she was shooting exceptionally and don’t remember her missing all that many which was important because make or miss they’re running at you… but at least with makes it gives you a little bit of time to get back.

“This is a nice group of young ladies – nine of them played this tournament last year so they’ve made some great steps and are starting to play together a lot more.

“They’ve developed some fantastic chemistry and are adopting the systems and understanding just what they’re required to do, which is pleasing to see.

“It’s really pleasing to see them playing well and enjoying playing together.”