New Tracy Village Jets women’s coach Belinda van der Ploeg says Jayla Thorne, Kaylani Duggan-Cole and Milla Henson are young guns stepping up in the top league

NEW Tracy Village Jets women’s coach Belinda van der Ploeg believes she’s inherited a role which could see no shortage of club juniors blossom at Darwin Basketball League level in the coming years.

Jets young gun Kaylani Duggan-Cole in action for Damabila during the Indigenous Community Basketball League tournament at Marrara. Picture: Glenn Campbell

NEW Tracy Village Jets women’s coach Belinda van der Ploeg believes she’s inherited a role which could see no shortage of club juniors blossom at Darwin Basketball League level in the coming years.

Despite admitting to there being some signs of rust against an understrength Lightning side in her team’s 60-56 victory in Round 1, the former Brisbane Blazers player in the WNBL and Australian youth representative liked what she saw, particularly from her younger players.

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“Our two young girls Kaylani Duggan-Cole (15 points) and Jayla Thorne (seven points) made their mark. Kaylani showed good composure to hit some late three-pointers and Jayla handled the ball well up the court,” van der Ploeg, a big signing for the Jets, told the NT News.

“We also had (Under-18 Division 1 player) Milla Hensen step up and she’s always improving her game.

“She got more confident as the game went on.

“I’ll always encourage our younger players to step up and play in our team, and to continue to aspire to play at that level.

“We were quite rusty (against Lightning) but it was a good fighting win. There were a couple of dropped heads when Lightning led by 10 late and the message was ‘we can do more in defence’, and the girls came through in the end.

“There’s plenty of improvement left in this team.

“For me, having someone like (captain) Kylie Duggan around is a godsend. She knows all our juniors well.”

Jets face Uni Rebels and Ansett takes on Razzle in Round 2 action on Friday night.