Two Thunderbolt Junior Representative teams were put through their paces on Tuesday night at the Sports Dome when the Under 18 and Under 16 women met each other on Court 4. Both of these teams play in Division 2 and it was interesting to see how the younger age group would fare against the older. The Under 18s proved stronger in the end and ran out winners 41 to 14.
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The game started fairly evenly when the first basket from the Thunder 18s Matilda Eade was matched by Julia Riolo from Bolts 16 soon after. Henrietta Bourke followed her teammate’s example with a single before Tamika Humphris made her mark.
Bella Collier from the U18s was able to sink a nice two pointer before Connie Daniels added her first points to the tally. This tit-for-tat scoring continued with the U16s Marnie Currey-Stedman and Julia Riolo able to sink a basket each.
This was in-between hoops from U18s Matilda Eade and Bella Collier who both had their scoring game on point.
Both teams were playing strong defensive games which kept the score relatively low at 13 - 10 when the hal-time siren sounded.
Most of the ladies have been playing basketball for a number of years and some of the opponents have been teammates in past seasons.
This is the first year in a coaching capacity for the 18s Jason Darcy who is the president of Tamworth Basketball Association.
Also in his first coaching position is the 16s Greg Barton, who has a stellar reputation as a past team manager with the affectionate nickname of ”Clips”.
Kudos to both gentlemen for accepting coaches’ mantles for the 2018 season, and we are sure that your charges appreciate your efforts.
The second half started strongly for the Thunder 18s with a succession of baskets from Isabella Riolo, Nickiah Kennedy and Matilda Eade.
Bolts 16 struggled to find their rhythm in the second half with only Marnie Currey-Stedman and Sophia Barnes able to convert effort into points.
The U18s continued their onslaught with Corrine Daniels joining her teammates on the scorecard and taking their final score to 41 against the U16s 14.
While the scoreboard shows the 18s clear and worthy winners, it doesn’t reflect the effort of the younger team. They continued putting the pressure on their opponents right up until the final whistle.
Both teams are away this weekend playing in Coffs Harbour and will be taking on some tough teams. This will be the last round before the finals and we wish the teams all the best.
