Sport
13 June, 2025
Redbacks under-18 girls claim title
Ararat teams shone at the McDonald’s Ballarat Junior Basketball Tournament, played over the King's Birthday long weekend, with the under-18 girls claiming the title following a string of excellent performances.
The conditions were wet and freezing, with the cold conditions being felt on the court with several games forced to be moved last minute due to several venues having leaking roofs.
That didn’t deter the Redbacks who played their heart and soul out in all divisions.
The under-18 girls haven’t played together since their back-to-back Junior Championships Title win in March, and with a few training sessions under their belt in preparation, the girls were ready to play.
The coach of the under-18 girls, Casanda Woods gave the following report.
With only one game on Day One, there was no excuse for not putting in 110%. Altona Gators put up a good fight, and we maintained 40 minutes of highly intense and aggressive basketball to come away with the win, 35-26. Our full-court defence did not disappoint.
Day two saw us match up against long time rivals BDU. Initially, the girls were excited to be on the show court at the Selkirk stadium. Unfortunately, their excitement was short-lived due to the leaking roof, and we moved to a more modest-style school court.
The girls played some fantastic basketball putting all our plays into action. The opposition’s long-range shooting challenged us, but we managed to match them, only going down by one shot, 25-28.
Sunbury Jets was our next match-up. It took us a little while to get going, however, once we started playing our game, controlling both ends of the court, we ran away with a convincing 28-point win (52-24). At this stage of the tournament, every player had played an important role. Our team game and some magical plays gave us a spring in our step.
Our third and final day was an early 8 am start. We knew this would be a tough one as Chelsea had only dropped one game (like us), so this was the semi-final berth match.
In true style, it lived up to its name. At the end of 40 minutes, the game was drawn. An extra three minutes were played, and we were ironically drawn again. We next had to play potentially 10 minutes until the first goal was scored to be declared the winner.
It took a couple of minutes, and luckily Chelsea missed the first opportunity, and we managed to make that first goal, winning the game 31-29. This gave us second position on the ladder and a semi-final spot against the top of the other pool.
Darebin was an unknown match-up for the semi-final. Like all our games this weekend, it was very physical. It was again a slow first half with the score 14-8 at half-time.
With many of the opposition players under foul pressure and two eventually fouled out, we took full advantage of taking the ball to them, with much improved foul shooting. The final score was 40-22.
The Grand Final against BDU allowed us to redeem ourselves and learn from our previous match-up the day before. This was a scrappy game as both teams showed major signs of fatigue, as the 4:30 pm final made it a long day for both players and officials of both teams.
It was a neck-and-neck game for the entire 40 minutes. We didn’t play our normal game but hung in there by a thread taking grand final honours by six points.
Woods was ecstatic with the performance.
“I am so proud of these eight girls, they all showed so much resilience the entire weekend,” Woods said.
“They are forever learning the game and continue to do their best. We showed great improvement in each game and the results proved this.
“Every game was of high intensity and aggressiveness, which is the style we like, and there was no time in any game for complacency. Many congratulations to the girls.”
"Captain, Nevani Woods, fought both ends of the court all weekend, she put her body on the line, read the ball well and even put some scores on the board. She was rewarded in the grand final with MVP,” Woods said.
“Our shooting gun, Ruby Thomas, continued her never-give-up attitude. She’s proven to be an allrounder on the court picking up steals and scores galore.
Violet Day always has fire in her belly and is on the court to give her best efforts on both ends of the court. She drove well to the basket all weekend.”
“Lily Moncrieff has certainly been more interactive offensively and defensively showing she meant business. Lily pulled off some surprising shots this weekend,” Woods said.
“Addison Lardner remains our Speedy Gonzales weaving her way down and around the court always contributing. She took some big knocks over the weekend but continued to pick herself up each time.
“Mia Gardiner proved her form is coming back putting her shooting skills and improved ball handling maneuvers to the test. Top effort Mia.”
“Mackenzie Johnson put in 100%. She has fantastic vision and position on the court. She is such a team player on and off the court,” Woods said.
“Bridie Price improved each game. Her fitness to get up and down the court was evident and she’s proving to be an asset and threat at both ends with her height and reach.
“Collectively, this group came up with the goods this King’s Birthday Ballarat tournament- another medal for the collection.”
Under-14 boys make semi-finals
The coach of the under-14s, Tahnee Walker gave the following report.
Heading into the final tournament for the representative season the Under 14 boys were ready and pumped up to play as a group for the final time.
In game one, the Redbacks won, 56-27.
The boys played a solid team game. Defence was a strong point of the game with Jackson Notting pulling in many boards and scoring 10 points. Archie McPherson drove the ball well to the basket scoring 13 and Liam Cameron had many offensive rebounds and put-backs scoring 12.
In game two, the Redbacks faced a much smaller side winning 63-38.
This game again saw the boys play great defence, intercepting many balls, causing turnovers and applying pressure all over the court.
Henry Fratin and Archie Reynolds led the way in defence and were running the fast break well which saw them each score six points.
Jack Madin entered the game and played well turning the ball over and having a red-hot crack in offence.
Game three wasn't the boys’ best for the weekend. They took a long time to get going in what was freezing conditions. After a few timely chats, the boys found their mojo and came away with an 11-point win.
Kobe Foster played a great game scoring when the team needed him to, finishing the game with six.
Jackson Notting was the trigger for the team’s comeback scoring nine and intercepting balls at a crucial time.
In the quarter-final, the boys came out firing and Nate Rhodes was at his strong best. He was taking rebounds, blocking shots and being strong in offence driving hard to the basket.
Jhett Turner showed he will be a force to watch next year in the squad taking charge of the point guard spot and making great decisions with his passing.
Kobe Foster played a great game creating turnovers and driving hard to the basket. The boys were winners against Bacchus Marsh 3 by 25 points.
An early start in the Semi-Final and a move of courts due to court flooding saw the Redbacks come up against archrivals BDU. Unfortunately, after a hard battle against an equally talented side, the Redbacks went down by eight points.
The boys should be proud of the season they have had and the improvement they have made individually and as a team.
Under-16 boys also make the semi-finals
The Under-16 boys went away to the Ballarat Junior Basketball tournament with a full side, coached by Mandy Sladdin with Jess Marsh as the team manager.
Mandy Sladdin gave the following report.
In game one against Wyndham, the Redbacks won by 18 points. After a seven-hour break, we took on Western Port in game two and the boys came away with a 20-point win.
On Sunday we fronted up to our third game against Bacchus Marsh, where after a slow start, the boys switched on and took another 20-point win.
After finishing undefeated in our pool, we played our quarter-final against the Western Port Steelers' second team.
Due to another seven-hour break, the boys again started slowly but were able to win convincingly by 33 points.
The semi-final against Wyndham Gold didn’t go our way with shots not dropping and we let the opposition get an 18-point lead.
The boys fought their way back, but time beat them, and they lost by five points to end their 2025 squad year.
The top scorers for the weekend were Archer Sparks with 62, Ollie Reynolds with 58, and Zac Kurr with 50. All 11 players hit the boards over the weekend which was a great result.
Under-12 boys hold their heads high
Despite not winning a game, the under-12 boys can hold their heads high. Coach, Jason Cameron shared the following report.
The boys started this year with a strong showing at the Bendigo and Portland tournaments but then dropped off and hadn’t been playing very well at our last two tournaments, so we weren’t too sure what to expect at this one.
We wanted to make sure we pushed them to play at their best so played up in Division Six out of nine.
We had a rough first day losing both games by a fair bit, but despite losing both our games on day two the boys were much more competitive, and I feel like they can hold their heads high.
It will be good to see what the group can achieve in the years to come.
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