Seven teams were formed to play in a tournament format to give players and teams some experience before attending their first tournament in Albury, to be held December 5 and 6.
The first game was played on Friday night between the Under 12 girls and the Under 12 boys development team.
The boys took out the win with fantastic team play. Coach Adam Goodear was especially pleased that there was no stand out with every player contributing when on the court.
The girls held their own, never giving up with some determined team play, led by Bella Hillier.
The first game on Saturday saw the U12 boys play the U14 girls development side.
The game was a see-sawing affair with both teams impacting the scoreboard. The game turned in the second half through strong drives from Logan Elphick leading to three trips to the free throw line.
Not to be outdone the girls surged back through some aggressive play from Georgia Henderson, however the boys came away with the win in the dying stages of the second half.
The next game saw the U14 girls face the U12 boys. The girls dominated early through Molly Bradley and Shontai O’Callaghan, but the boys bounced back through good team play to only trail by a small margin at the break.
Talen Barnes started the second half confidently with excellent attack on the ring, scoring several nice layups, but the girls turned it on to take a comfortable win in the end.
The Under 12 boys development matched up against the Under 14 girls development in the third game.
The boys had their confidence up from a win the previous night and it showed early putting plenty of pressure on the girls.
But it was the height and determination of Ava Richards with great support of her team that turned the game around and led the girls to victory.
The boys never gave up and continued to show their commitment to team play.
The Under 12 boys took on the Under 14 boys development. There were a couple of brotherly match ups in this game and they did not disappoint with Bentley Hardman causing a steal and basket early on Dexter Hardman, only for Dex to respond and cause several turnovers on Bentley shortly after.
The intensity of the game continued with Archer and Harrison Moodie. Neither brother was far from the other all game with plenty of pressure applied both ways. The Under 14 boys showed slightly more polish through Zac Andrews to come away with the win.
The fifth game saw the Under 14 girls take on the Under 14 boys development side.
This game was a quick one with the ball moving fast both ends. The substitutions were important and the pace hardly slowed.
The game belonged to the smalls for the Under 14 girls of Molly Bradley, Bae Willis and Aysha Mitsch who applied plenty of pressure on the defensive end making it hard for the boys. The girls held strong to take out the victory.
The last game of the gala day was for bragging rights in the Under 14 boys team.
There are 10 players in this team and two coaches, which saw the team split into two for a battle of coach vs coach and teammate v teammate.
The game was played in fantastic spirit with Team Cable Fitzpatrick taking a commanding lead through play from Sam Crossley and Brooklyn Barnes.
But Team Ella Harvey were far from done, Baxter Cowley caught fire from three and Josh Todd was attacking the ring at every chance.
The lead ended up being too great in the end with Team Cable winning and taking bragging rights over Ella.
The club would like to give a big thank you to the Giants’ umpires and committee for giving up their time to make this day a fantastic success.
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