It has been all hands on court for Basketball Mount Gambier with plenty of exciting news over recent weeks.
Limestone Coast players have been showing their skills in the Icehouse and around the state, while their future is bright with some huge opportunities ahead.
The biggest chance for promising basketball youngsters arrived last week in the form of the 2020-21 Mount Gambier Pioneers program.
Mount Gambier’s biggest sports team has teamed up with the Limestone Coast Regional Sporting Academy to launch a 20-person program to provide a pathway for talented players to enhance their games.
Applications are already open and will close on Friday, October 30 with successful members receiving skills, gym and education sessions.
Many individuals who may eye an academy berth were in fine form in the Mount Gambier Lakers’ return to action.
Recently all junior Lakers’ sides competed in the first regional tournament since COVID-19 and many made an impression against the likes of Eastern Hills, Strathalbyn, Millicent and Murray Bridge.
The Under 18 boys Division 1 and Under 16 boys Division 2 teams both won their respective titles.
The success did not end there with the Under 18 boys Division 2, Under 14 boys Division 1 and Under 12 girls squads also securing grand final berths.
Basketball Mount Gambier development manager Matt Sutton said he was pleased to see the junior representative sides firing again.
“We were over the moon all of our teams were able to compete in their first tournament and given we are coming out of a pandemic it was a huge achievement in itself,” he said.
“Results wise we are pleased, but the bigger picture is the overall development of the players and we are delighted they can continue playing.”
The next assignment for the Lakers will be a tournament held at Millicent next weekend.
Closer to home the winter South East Coast Basketball League finished off with a bang recently.
Panthers completed a dominant campaign in the men’s competition with a comfortable 82 to 51 win in the grand final against Cats.
Jak Ryan and Josh Murphy both scored the most points with 23 each for their respective Cougars and Cats outfits.
Murphy was the most consistent performer across the season and collected the MVP award, while the Bill Cook Memorial trophy for the top junior went to Oli Thomson.
Saints endured a slightly tougher route to victory in the SECBL women’s decider against Cougars.
Saints won by 14 points, while Sarah Ritter and Olivia Fuller received dual MVP prizes.
The Sally Jane Allen/Trisha Flett Memorial trophy for the highest voted junior went to Ritter.
Sutton said it was a relief to get the first competition wrapped up after the coronavirus enforced break.
“It felt like an unknown week to week when it started, but I am really proud of all our players, officials and volunteers who put in the hard work to make sure we managed to get a full season,” he said.
Next week SECBL will hit the courts again as part of the Summer Hoops season.
The opening SECBL round is on Wednesday, while junior grades will start on Monday.
