Narrandera Knights junior representative basketball teams enjoyed great success at last weekend’s Western Junior League finals series in Griffith.
For a small association, Narrandera was well represented with six of the seven 2024 teams qualifying for finals where the U12 girls and U16 girls progressed to grand final matches.
At the end of the series, Knights finished WJL 2024 with the U16 girls winning the Division 1 championship and the U12 girls championship runners-up in Division 2. The association was delighted by the large numbers of local supporters who made the trip to Griffith to cheer on the junior Knights.
Knights U16 Girls at the end of the rounds had only been beaten by Leeton, who they faced in the Saturday morning semifinal. As underdogs, the U16s powered through the match to win 73-69 and move straight to Sunday’s grand final. Leeton easily won their preliminary final, and so it was that the grand final was a repeat of their semi, happily including the result.
The Knights were too strong and claimed the championship 78-57. This win also qualifies the team to play on in 2024 State Cup. Most Valuable player awarded by the match referees went to Knights player, Samantha Kerr.
The U12 Girls enjoyed an 11-1 win-loss record through the season and they came up against second-placed Orange in their semifinal. Losing a player on Friday to injury posed an additional challenge to the team, but the girls were determined not to let that hold them back.
The Knights went down 53-45 after a seesawing match, meaning the long way to a medal via a preliminary final that they won 56-35 against Temora. In Sunday’s grand final match, the Knights led briefly in the third quarter but couldn’t match Orange’s height and experience to go down 57-37. The U12 Boys secured a division one finals berth on a count-back for fourth place, meaning a must win semifinal against West Wyalong. Winning this 40-26 saw the boys progress to a preliminary final. In a hard-fought match, the Knights were eventually edged out by Bathurst going down 52-42.
The U18 Boys finishing division two fourth position knew what they needed to do in a must-win semifinal. As they ground out a pleasing 88-56 win over West Wyalong, they set up a preliminary final against Orange. Despite the boys sticking with their opposition in an up and down game, Orange snatched a mini break in the last quarter to hang on to win 85-77.
The U14 Girls across the season improved from round to round and finished in third position in division two. Their semifinal against Lithgow was a tussle with the score tight throughout. Knights were unlucky to be edged out by the slenderest of margins 38-34.
U16 Boys division one was a close competition all season. Qualifying in fourth place meant the boys had a must win semifinal match against Mudgee Lakers. They worked hard to stay with Mudgee right to the end of ordinary time when scores were drawn. In entertaining basketball, the boys gave it everything in extra time and went agonizingly close to snatching a win. The final score was Mudgee 98 defeating Knights 95.
Improvement from September trials through to grand finals has been evident across the U12 to U18 age groups and all players are to be congratulated on their commitment and sportsmanship. The Association would like to thank coaches, managers, referees for their efforts and parents for their support. We are now looking forward to results from State Cup and then preparation for WJL season 2024.
In domestic basketball, both junior and senior competitions head into the last few rounds before three weeks of finals.
See all the pictures in the issue.
This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 9 May 2024.
