Metropolitan girls, boys teams dominate at basketball championships in Rockhampton

Up-and-coming basketball stars from across the state lit up the courts in Rockhampton as they battled for victory and state selection. See which teams finished on top and which players are bound for next month’s nationals.

Met East and Capricornia battled it out for bronze at the Queensland Representative School Sport state basketball championships in Rockhampton.

The Brisbane regions dominated the Queensland Representative School Sport state 10-12 years basketball championships played in Rockhampton.

Their teams took the top three spots in the girls, with Metropolitan East finishing first, Metropolitan West second and Metropolitan North third.

South Coast managed to prevent the ultimate clean sweep, finishing second in the boys.

Metropolitan North took the title, with Metropolitan East coming in third.

Not surprisingly, their players dominated state team selection (see line-ups below).

Metropolitan East girls celebrate their win.

Twenty-two teams played a total of 122 games over the four days at Bravus Arena and The Cathedral College.

They jostled for positions over the opening three days, setting up a brilliant day of finals and positional playoffs on Sunday.

The Met East girls scored a commanding 36-22 win over Met West in the final, while the boys affair was much closer with Met North beating South Coast 57-55 in the decider.

Home team Capricornia finished fourth and fifth respectively in the boys and girls.

The boys toiled hard in their bronze medal playoff against Met East, levelling the scores late in the fourth quarter before eventually going down 53-49.

The girls rounded out their tournament with a 44-31 win over Northern 44-31 in the playoff for fifth and sixth.

Players from 11 regions took part in the championships.

While wins were hard to come by for competition newcomers North West, they relished their time at the championships, with the boys finishing 10th and the girls 11th.

The outstanding performers were rewarded with selection in the Queensland teams to contest the nationals on the Gold Coast from July 27 to August 1.

Queensland girls team

Cadence Fauatea (Met West), Allies Kafusi (Met West), Holly Petrie (South Coast), Bailee Kiernan (Sunshine Coast), Nahla Moke (Met East), Eden Cooper (Met East), Tiriata Bourke-Tarawa (Met North), Kendyl Huirama (Northern), Shay-Lee Waters (Northern), Tia Ogilvie (Met East).

Queensland boys team

Nash Novosel (Capricornia), Noah Ghabiliha (South Coast), Lachlan Fechner (Met West), Matthew Burbridge (Met North), Talen Taulapiu (Met East), Brooklyn Hennessey (South Coast), Kingston Massingale (Met North), Jermaine O’Reilly (South Coast), Austen Lasalo (Met North), Finley Philbin (Capricornia).

Originally published as Metropolitan girls, boys teams dominate at basketball championships in Rockhampton