SCHOOL SPORT: NORTH West had a tough first day at the NSW PSSA basketball championships at the Sports Dome on Tuesday but were still all smiles afterwards as the best primary school basketball girls hit Tamworth for the three-day carnival.
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While each of the fourteen regions in NSW are meant to host the carnival on rotation, this is the second time in five years that the Sportsdome has hosted the event, after Polding chose to hold their championship round here in 2011 and carnival manager Craig Long said there were no complaints, with the visiting sides all too happy to compete at some of the best facilities in the state.
“It is great to have it on our doorstep again,” Long said.
“People get blown away by the facilities and venue here in Tamworth. We are very lucky to have it.”
The opening day saw the teams split into two pools of seven, with three games of a round robin played on Tuesday and a further three on Wednesday, before the play-offs and final on Thursday.
“Mackillop, Sydney East and Sydney South West are all going well,” Long said.
“But that can all change as they start playing the different sides.”
For North West, the region with the smallest player pool to choose from, it was always going to be a tough carnival, although coach Keighan Roser said that they can all be proud of their performance and, more importantly, their attitude.
The girls opened the carnival with a 63-11 point loss to Sydney South West, then CIS outplayed them 56-4, before finishing the day with a 75-26 loss to Polding.
Roser said despite the scorelines, the girls were constantly improving and said the loss to CIS was their best game of the day.
“The girls were working hard on their structures and their defensive intensity was good,” Roser said.
“The overall experience of a carnival like this is great and they will be better players for it.
“Every game we improve on the fundamentals, techniques and skills.”
All but one of the North West girls will have a chance to play in the championships again next year but in the meantime the coach said that they are having a ball.
“They are a great positive bunch of kids who love it,” Roser said.
The coach thought that Tamworth Public’s Zhara Hudson and Timbumburi twins Zali and Josie Humble had been their best, along with Gunnedah South’s Dakota Milne.
On Wednesday the girls will start with a game against Sydney East at 9am, before meeting Mackillop and Barrier through the day.
Meanwhile in Unanderra, the North West CHS girls’ hockey side had a win and a draw for a great start to the carnival.
Armidale High’s Tahlia Rekunow and Oxley’s Jessie McIntosh starred on day one with a 1-1 draw against Riverina before dismissing Sydney North 3-2 in the afternoon.
Manager Kim Kelly said the girls face another big day on Wednesday, with a game against North Coast this morning followed by a clash with last year’s champions Hunter this afternoon.
In Narrabeen, the CHS netball side had mixed results with a 44-6 defeat to Sydney South West in the first match before bouncing back to pip West Darling 31-30 in a nail- biter, before finishing the day with a game against Riverina.
