Junior basketballers converge on the Coast

U14’s basketballers from around the state, hosted by Niagara Park Stadium: (from L-R) Isobelle, Kijana, Kiara and Charlie

BASKETBALL –

Over the past weekend from Saturday to Sunday, March 13-14, Breakers Indoor Sports and Niagara Park Stadiums hosted the launch of the 2021 Junior Premiere League (JPL) and Eastern Junior League (EJL) competitions.

Teams from all across Country NSW in the JPL, as far south as Albury and as far north as Byron Bay, travelled to the Central Coast for an intense weekend consisting of each team’s first two – four round matches, with the Central Coast Rebels competing in the Boys and Girls U14, 16 and 18’s.

Operations High Performance Manager for the Rebels and Crusaders (in the Senior divisions), Jared Scoines, commented on the encouraging performance he witnessed from the six teams in the JPL.

“We pride ourselves on our teaching and development programs, so to be able to see our Under 14’s Men and Women’s teams competing against the bigger clubs and be successful was a big stand-out throughout the course of the weekend,” Scoines said.

The young women’s team found a high degree of challenge in their matches and were unfortunate to finish without a win, despite a first round narrow loss to the Dubbo Rams, 30 – 38, and a fourth round loss to the Coffs Harbour Suns, 36 – 38.

The young men’s team began with a greatly successful win against the Suns, 90 – 54, but went on to count three consecutive losses, including a painfully close loss to the Maitland Mustangs, 52 – 53.

Scoines also commented on the progress being made in the U16’s teams who finished with mixed results over the weekend.

“In terms of the two teams’ cohesion and the direction that they are heading as a group, this is something that we are very proud of as a club,” concluded Scoines.

The young women’s team stand with a win and a loss, falling to the Suns, 55 – 64, before coming back to beat the Illawarra Hawks, 67 – 52.

The U18’s finished the weekend with more mixed results, with notable wins coming for the young women against the Hawks in another tightly contested game finishing 51 – 50, and a hard fought win for the young men against the Port Macquarie Dolphins, 92 – 88.

As well as the JPL, teams from the Newcastle-Hunter region travelled south for their first two rounds in the EJL, which hosts the Division Two and Three teams from the Central Coast.

Currently, Central Coast teams lead the competitions in the U14 Boys, as well as both the U16 Boys and Girls.

Haakon Barry