HAMILTON Basketball Association held its annual junior tournament on the weekend, with a record number of entries descending on HILAC, The Hamilton and Alexandra College and Monivae College, to battle each other across four age groups in both boys and girls competitions.

Each of the teams sent in a report following the two-day tournament.

Under-18A Boys

THE Hurricanes finished runner-up for the tournament, going down to Horsham in the grand final in front of a packed and rowdy HILAC grandstand.

While disappointed with the grand final loss, as a coach I was really pleased with what we got out of our first tournament of the season.

The team was competitive, played a great brand of team basketball and gave themselves a chance to win every game.

On day one, the Hurricanes had mixed results with one win from its three games.

The boys got their tournament off to a strong start with a comfortable win against Warrnambool, before dropping a thriller to Portland by one point and then finishing the day with a 10-point loss to Horsham.

On day two, the Hurricanes bounced back to form in their semi-final, overturning the day one result by beating Portland by 16 points to advance to the grand final.

With a chance to bounce back against Horsham, things didn’t go to plan for the Hurricanes with the team simply not shooting the ball well enough in the grand final to get the win with Horsham securing a 12-point victory.

Under-18A Girls

OUR girls represented the association for the first time in several years with the girls getting off to a great start in the first game against a smaller Casterton team.

They played terrific defence and with an even contribution on the offensive end to win the game 53-8, with Grace Cleaver the leading scorer with 16 points.

The second game was against Warrnambool's development team with the Hamilton girls having Warrnambool under pressure from the start, with the defensive press creating turnovers resulting in scoring opportunities.

Hamilton had a comfortable 51-9 win with Mimi Chun top-scoring with 14 points.

The third game saw Hamilton come up against a strong Portland team that had the Hurricanes under pressure right across the court, causing turnovers and Portland was in full control on its offensive end to win, 39-17.

On Sunday, Hamilton faced off against Casterton in the semi-final, with a similar score line to the first game with Hamilton having an even spread of scorers, while Casterton's Indi Longhurst hit a three-pointer on the buzzer to see the final score favour Hamilton 54-9.

Hamilton had another opportunity to take on Portland in the decider, with the team keen to improve on the previous performance.

Once the Hurricanes found a way to score, the spectators saw an even game of basketball with Portland able to break away in the last 10 minutes to beat Hamilton 46-33.

The entire squad made solid contributions, with Reet Kaur the standout with 15 points.

Under-16A Boys

THE Hurricanes played in Division 1 and got off to a strong start against Warrnambool Green, winning by 15 points and it couldn’t have asked for a better start from the boys with a great team effort across the board.

The second game was played against Horsham, who is one of the Hurricanes biggest rivals and the contest did not disappoint.

Another awesome team effort with great defensive effort from Josh Sevior and strong leadership shown by Jack Sobey and Matt Calvert saw Hamilton win by six points.

Next up was Maryborough with a five-point win, which was the team’s third game for the day and the boys were tired.

Hamilton got off to a great start with a good lead, with a solid game from Jobe Dunn with 18 points.

Sunday morning, the Hurricanes played Portland in another thriller, winning by five points, with the team’s “bigs” in Frank Gill, Xavier White and Riley Iredell proving too strong.

In the semi-final against Warrnambool Green, each player stepped up to secure a place in the decider with a 27-point win.

The final against Portland was a sensational game with a tight first half that saw the Hurricanes’ leaders step up and take control of the game, led by Charlie Baker.

The rebounding was next level from Hamilton, which saw the team take the grand final win by 23 points.

Under 16A Girls

THE Hurricanes played their first match against Warrnambool on Saturday morning, having a comfortable win, 18-29.

The girls were able to turn over the ball and successfully convert it into points, allowing us to take a great lead.

In the second-round robin, we came up against Horsham Hornets.

During the first half, the Hamilton Hurricanes fought hard to keep up with Horsham, however the opposition was too smart and outplayed the Hurricanes, unfortunately losing 17-36.

Our last game before finals, the team played against Portland.

It was a tight game with only a couple of points difference throughout the whole game.

With seconds to go, the Hamilton Hurricanes were up by three points, however in the end a Portland shooter ending a shot with maximum to draw the game, 29-29.

On Sunday, the girls competed against Portland again, and it was a tight game at the beginning before taking a lead against the Coasters.

In the end, Portland crept up and took the lead by 1 point, 23 – 24. Despite losing two very important players, Saskia Gould and Holly Rook, the whole team including emergencies, stepped up and all played to their best ability.

Under-14A Boys

THE boys went into the first tournament not knowing what to expect from other associations and the first game was against Casterton and the team started slowly but found their momentum and ended up winning 41-18.

The second game was against Portland and the Hurricanes let the visitors get away early and played catch up all game going down 30-21.

The third game was against Horsham and another slow start saw Hamilton trail early, but the players dug deep and fought it out to go down, 25-32.

Sunday was the last pool game against Warrnambool, and it was close all the way and down the side was three with seven seconds left we get a buzzer beater three-pointer to tie game.

This sparked the boys for what was to come.

We end up playing Horsham in the semi-final and reversed Saturday’s result and won 36-33 with boys playing very well.

Off to the final to play Warrnambool again, and after a well fought game and a couple of injuries late the boys ran out of puff and Warrnambool won, 33-24.

It was a great first tournament from all the boys and good to know we’re around the mark with other towns close by.

Under-14B Boys

THE boys played in Division 2 and had a fantastic overall tournament as the bottom age team did not drop a game on the first day of competition.

The boys took it to Warrnambool White to kick things off in a tight nail bitter, finishing in a draw.

The competitive form continued through the day with another draw and then breaking through for their first win late in the afternoon, securing a spot in the finals.

Unfortunately, day two proved to be a bit tougher with a close loss in the morning and finally another tight lose in their semi-final.

Overall, the young team showed how full of potential they are, which paired with their competitive spirit will hold them in good stead for the future.

Under-14A Girls

THE girls were victorious in the opening tournament of the squad season, coming away with a perfect five wins to claim the Division 1 title.

With only limited trainings in the lead up to the tournament, the girls showed some promising signs with a very well-rounded performance by every player.

The girl’s confidence improved throughout the tournament, building upon their teamwork and game structures.

They faced a tall Portland Coasters outfit in the grand final and the first half was tightly contested with low scores, the girls taking time to settle.

The Hurricanes came out from half time displaying great defensive pressure, forcing many turn overs, resulting in scoring opportunities for them. The girls worked well together as a team to pull away from Portland and win 39-15.

Hamilton easily accounted for Casterton in round one 69-2; Portland was next up with a 32-14 victory, while the team then went on to defeat Maryborough 46-12, Casterton again 86-8 and finally Portland in the final to claim the title.

Under-14B Girls

THE girls development team had a highly successful weekend at their first tournament.

The team ended the first day undefeated and top of their pool.

On Sunday, wins against Maryborough and Terang led them to the final against Warrnambool Green.

The decider was incredibly close and hard fought with both teams tied at half time.

The defensive pressure of Warrnambool proved too tough to break for the Hurricanes, who went down by 12 points at the final siren.

Under-12A Boys

A STRONG start to the squad season for the newly formed team played well in their first squad appearance with a 72-5 win against Casterton.

The second game saw a strong defensive effort from the whole team resulting in the boys having a challenging win as Harry Frichot and Connor Crawford contributed well to the result with Hamilton defeating Portland, 37-22

Despite trailing early in the match against Warrnambool, the team kept their composure and fought out a tough win.

Cooper Kearney and Baxter Walkenhorst played solid defence and inspired the team to a 30-26 win.

The semi-final saw great team effort with all players contributing on offense and defence, as Harry Manley and Manaia Bremner passed and moved the ball around to display great teamwork to win 50-11 against Casterton.

In front of a packed Court 1 crowd, the boys recovered from a slow start and in a high-class match, the team controlled the final stages of the match to hit the lead in the final minute against Warrnambool to win, 33-31. 

Under-12B Boys

THE team started the Hamilton basketball tournament on Saturday against the Port Fairy Pacers.

It was a very good contest throughout the game with Port Fairy leading the game by six points with three minutes to go.

The Hamilton boys put immense pressure on the Port Fairy defence and with two baskets in the dying seconds of the game, Hamilton won 24-22. Hamilton Hurricanes second game was against Warrnambool white where they showed game teamwork and fast play to win 34-18.

The third round was against the competition’s favourite Maryborough, as the Blazers proved to be too strong with a 44-14 win.

On Sunday the Hurricanes had a quarter-final against Warrnambool Green.

The game was a very even contest with both teams trading scores throughout the game, as the game went down to the wire with Warrnambool needing to score two points to draw with seven seconds left, but the Hurricanes’ defence was strong and held out for the win 18-16.

The boys then had a semi-final game against the Tornadoes and unfortunately Terang got off to a strong start and eventually won, 31-20.

Under-12A Girls

THE girls enjoyed a successful first tournament in Hamilton, finishing second.

The girls started the weekend with a strong opening match against Portland, winning 49-14, with all girls putting points on the board. A 93-3 win against Casterton kept confidence high, before losing to Warrnambool Mermaids, 13-31.

The semi-final saw us take on Portland again, and the girls worked hard defensively to limit the opposition to three points, to progress to the final.

Hamilton played Warrnambool Mermaids in the main event and the score line was like that in the round match (13-38), with the Mermaid girls, a skilful outfit, finished accurately under the basket.

Grace O’Sullivan, Leni Robertson, Taya Sherlock and Pippa Richards all were dominant scorers for the girls throughout the weekend.

Under-12B Girls

THE girls had a very successful start to their squad campaign as they featured in the weekends Division 2 grand final, finishing runner-up to a strong Warrnambool Green side, 28-19. 

We started our weekend on Saturday at The Hamilton and Alexander College with three wins which came as a great surprise for all parents and supporters, as only two of the eight players had ever been a part of the Hamilton Hurricanes squad before. 

Convincing wins over Port Fairy Pacers 21-7, Warrnambool White 30-6 and Terang Tornadoes 18 -2 which allowed them to progress straight into the semi-finals on Sunday where they came up against fellow Hamilton rivals.

The Hamilton Hurricanes C team were beaten 24-6 and we then entered the grand-final.

Under-12C Girls

THE Hurricanes’ third team had a tough start to their Hamilton Tournament campaign, suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of eventual champions Warrnambool Green 39-3.

The girls regrouped for their second game against Warrnambool Blue and led from start to finish, holding off the fast-finishing Blue team to record a narrow two-point victory 16-14.

Advancing to the quarter finals they faced Port Fairy Pacers, where they played some of their best basketball of the tournament, coming away with a five-point win 17-12 and setting up a matchup against the Hurricanes 2nd team.

It was always going to be a difficult task against the undefeated Hurricanes 2nd team but to the girls credit you wouldn’t have known from the opening tip.

The semi-final delivered a nail biting opening 10 minutes, the 3rd team controlling the early stages of the game before the 2nd team found some momentum and gathered control. The defensive pressure was too much to handle, and the game was put out of reach, handing the girls their final defeat of the tournament 24-6.

There were impressive signs from this new, primarily bottom age little team throughout the tournament. All the girls learnt so much and look forward to their upcoming tournaments.