Sport: Basketball

Our Year 8s hit the border last Wednesday 4th September, taking their turn to compete in the Upper Hume Basketball tournament at the Wodonga Leisure Centre.

The Girls collected two wins, to finish with a 2-2 record. They dismantled Victory Lutheran College Wodonga (16-6), and lowered into a coffin Wodonga Middle Years College (31-10). They however went down to two schools with double the number of our students - Galen College (7-26) and overall champions Catholic College Wodonga (3-45)

Coach Jaime Ryan named inspirational Captain Kaity Ford the Best Player. The Wangaratta Warriors and former VJBL (Victorian Junior Basketball League) Basketballer was said to be all over the court, setting up shots, taking the rebound, driving it down the court and scoring. She also took on the “playing Coach” role and got her team organised. 

Inanay Gilson was named 2nd best - feisty, hungry for the ball and great in defence. Taylah Wyatt, who originally went along as a helper, came on and ended up the 2nd top scorer and proving a newfound talent. Ruby O’Kane, Ruby Burns, Liv Day and Bella White were said to all play extremely well and never gave up. 

One opposition coach was apparently surprised only 1 of our girls plays Basketball. We are becoming accustomed to this group of girls being skilled in everything they do. All of them Merriwa girls, they are the same crew that in August led their house to the Bruce Revell Shield at our Athletics Carnival, scoring almost twice as many points as the next best cohort.

The Girls were said to be great sports who all shook hands, and were described by their coach with the phrase - “What a great bunch of girls!”

The Boys also won 2 matches, fininshing 2-4 for the tournament. They beat Grace Christian College Wodonga (20-17) and Wodonga Middle Years Huon (19-11), but dropped their other 4 against Victory Lutheran College (16-47), Wodonga Middle Years Felltimber (21-30), Catholic College Wodonga (12-42) and winners Galen College (26-56).

Coach Morgan Clark describes in detail:

“The boys competition was a strong field, made up of 7 teams from within the Upper Hume region. Our ‘bye’ wasn’t scheduled until the final fixture, so the team had to play 6 matches with virtually no break: A great test of endurance and perseverance from the whole squad!

We started against Victory Lutheran College, arguably the strongest team on the day. The boys were fighting hard to keep up with Victory’s fast start. Nick Dark Jr and Thomas Fieldew were the chief scorers in this game, with 6 and 4 points respectively. Captain Clarence Lampa was ‘fouled out’ in the second half, but the team finished well to limit the damage on the scoreboard.

Our next 2 matches were against Wodonga Middle Years College. After being even at half time, we went down to Felltimber Campus, who made the most of their chances in the second half. Evergreen captain Clarence Lampa had the ball on a string, draining 13 points. 

The boys broke through for a win against Huon Campus. Thomas Fieldew being the matchwinner with 13 points of his own. Isaac Robinson and Jed Murray chimed in with a couple of goals and plenty of assists. 

We kept up with Galen (the eventual winners) for almost the entire first half, matching them goal for goal in a fast-paced scoring frenzy from both teams. Jeremy Bagley, who had been frenetic in defence all day, found himself in scoring positions and finished with 5 points. 

The team fought gallantly against Catholic College Wodonga, who seemed to have an incredible height advantage, not too dissimilar to the Monstars in the 1996 family movie ‘Space Jam’. Chadd Williams was solid in defence, while Lachie Downing was providing scoring avenues to his teammates, being involved in almost every play. 

We finished on a high with a nailbiter against Grace Christian College. Clarence Lampa again proved the game-winner with 12 points, before being fouled out for a second time. We took the win by 3 points, after Grace closed to within 1 point with 90 seconds remaining. 

Overall it was a great day out, with plenty of support shown by all students. I was impressed by everyone’s behaviour and the way that they represented Wangaratta High School.”

Jud Mullins

Sport Coordinator