THE Portland Coasters bid farewell to highly successful Country Basketball League season on Friday night with a club awards presentation night.
Portland’s senior women’s team finished the regular season in third place out of six teams in the South West Conference, qualifying for finals with six wins from 10 matches.
The Coasters then proceeded to roll Mount Gambier by 12 points in the semi-final and then belted Warrnambool Mermaids in the grand final, winning 71-49.
Captain Nicola Handreck was the winner of Portland’s Most Valuable Player Award after championing the team to premiership success.
Handreck lined up for the Coasters in eight matches, averaging 14.1 points as the team’s primary playmaker, and stood up when it mattered most, putting 17 points on the board in both the semi-final and grand final.
The runner-up was centre Alana Strom, who was also voted the CBL’s Defensive Player of the Season.
Guard Millie Jennings, 16, was the winner of Portland’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, while fellow youngster Sarah Tunstall was awarded Rookie of the Year.
Heidi Jones, 18, was the winner of the Portland Basketball Association’s CBL Player Award.
Portland’s senior men’s team finished in second place out of 10 South West Conference sides, winning six matches of ten before qualifying for the grand final with an eight-point win over Warrnambool Seahawks.
The Coasters were then bested by Horsham Hornets in a frustrating grand final loss, 80-87.
Nathan Hardingham, who was awarded the CBL Most Valuable Player Award following the grand final defeat, was unsurprisingly the winner of Portland’s MVP Award.
Hardingham played in 10 contests for the Coasters across the summer and averaged 18.9 points per game, hitting a season high 28 points in the grand final.
Toby Jennings was the runner-up in Portland’s MVP Award after averaging 10 points per game as a high-pressure defensive guard. Jennings also won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Rookie of the Year went to 17-year-old Sam Peters after a breakout season.
Peters lined up for the senior men’s team 10 times, averaging 8.4 points per game, with a season high 15 against Seahawks in the semi-final.
