Young Darwin Basketball stars Jayla Thorn, Kaylani Duggan-Cole and Lachlan O’Brien from Tracy Village and Ansett to represent Australia at FIBA challenge in ACT
THREE young Darwin basketball stars are set to represent Australia in what will be an opportunity of a lifetime for them.
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THREE young Darwin basketball stars are set to represent Australia in what will be an opportunity of a lifetime for them.
Tracy Village’s Kaylani Duggan-Cole and Jayla Thorne, and Ansett’s Lachlan O’Brien have been selected to represent their country in the 2021 FIBA Under-15 Skills Challenge.
Taking place at BA’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra this weekend, the FIBA Under-15 Skills Challenge is a virtual event held globally.
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It provides an opportunity for the 10 athletes picked – with the other seven from ACT – to showcase their abilities against basketballers their own age from other countries.
They will compete in a series of drills and skills that are recorded and uploaded to the FIBA YouTube channel.
In addition to the FIBA Skills Challenge, the attending athletes will also engage in various high-level skill development with leading BA High Performance coaches and get to watch the CoE men’s and women’s teams play in the NSW Waratah League.
Basketball Australia director of high performance coach development Peter Lonergan said this weekend would provide a unique chance for these athletes to not only represent their country in a global event, but experience what it is like to be a scholarship holder at BA’s CoE.
“We are pleased to have this talented group of junior basketballers from the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory high performance pathways represent Australia in the 2021 FIBA Under-15 Skills Challenge,” he said.
“This two-day global event presents a wonderful opportunity for these identified athletes to compete against a host of international teams in their age group, and we know they will be wearing the green and gold with pride in this innovative event.”
While the event commences on Saturday, the three NT stars will arrive at the AIS the day before.
That will give them the opportunity to experience an on-court training session with player development coach Robbie McKinlay, from the NBA Global Academy.
Duggan-Cole, Thorne and O’Brien are all highly deserving of this opportunity.
Duggan-Cole (15 points with three from seven three-pointers) and Thorne (seven points) starred on their DBA Women’s League debuts, helping the Jets to a 60-56 win over Lightning in Round 1.
Thorne stood out for Damabila at the Indigenous Community Basketball League tournament, taking out the girls’ competition MVP.
Her and Duggan-Cole were subsequent junior girls NBA camp selections.
And despite playing up a few years, O’Brien is enjoying a consistent season with Ansett at Under-18 Division 1 level.
His best game so far this season was a 14-point return (two three-pointers) in an 80-25 win over Razzle in Round 5.
He scored 38 points (four three-pointers) in Ansett’s 89-42 win over Uni Rebels during Round 2 action at Under-16 Division 1 level.
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