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In Week 8 of Term 4, Tenison Woods College took 35 students and 6 staff to the 2018 Australian Schools Basketball Championships held in Melbourne from Sunday 2 December – Friday 7 December. The group left the Tenison Woods College campus on Sunday morning and made their way across the border in time for the events opening ceremony held at the State Basketball Centre in Wantirna South, Melbourne. The event was the largest in history with 180 teams and 2000 students competing throughout the week-long event. Tenison Woods College had 4 teams competing in U/17 Girls Division 1, U/17 Boys Division 2, U/20 Girls Division 2 & U/20 Boys Division 2.

Monday –

Our youngest boys kicked off the week’s proceedings with their first game against the Endeavour Pirates where they went down 41-70 in a tough game to start the week for the boys. This was followed up with the U/20 Men’s first game of the week against fellow South Australian School, Encounter Lutheran College. Although the boys started well they went down 50-78. The squad then travelled back to Dandenong to watch the U/17 Boys in their second game of the week against Yarra Valley. This game was much closer for our boys but unfortunately they went down 59-60 in their closest game for the week. While the U/17 Boys were playing, our U/20 Women started their campaign across town vs Erindale College. The senior women were successful in winning their first game 39-25, setting the tone for a very successful week. It was then time for our U/17 Girls team to start their week with a game against Sheldon College. Our junior girls were our only division 1 team competing at the event and even against some of the best competition in the country, they were able to win their first game 68-52. The final game of the day sore our U/20 Men’s side take on old foes, Point Cook Senior. Tenison Woods College have had some very good battles in the past with this team from Melbourne but in this game our boys proved far too strong, coming away with a 72-55 win. The night was finished off with a visit to Margaret Court Arena to watch the Australian Boomers take on Qatar.

• U/17 Boys: 0-2
• U/17 Girls: 1-0
• U/20 Men: 1-1
• U/20 Women: 1-0

Tuesday –

The U/17 Boys again started off the day’s action with a game against Aquinas College at 8:00am on a cold Melbourne morning. The boys started really strong against one of the powerhouse teams in the division but ultimately went down to a very strong side, 43-60. The entire squad then made their way to watch our U/17 Girls team take on Catherine McCauley College in a game that would showcase 2 of the top 3 teams in the competition. Our girl’s fast style of play was too much for the Catherine McCauley girls as we went on to win 58-48. The U/17 Boys were then back on court for their fourth game of the competition against Doncaster Secondary College. Our junior boys put everything they had into the game but unfortunately, never seemed close, going down 42-86. The squad then travelled to the State Basketball Centre for the final two games for the day. The U/20 Women played the first one against Hunter Sports High School. Our girls had to really fight to get this win against some really tall opposition, coming away 50-45 point winners. The final game of the second day of competition belonged to the U/20 Men as they played Knox Grammer School. The boys came out quite slow which allowed the opposition to get out to a 10-point lead. This proved too much for the senior boys to overcome as they went down 41-56.

• U/17 Boys: 0-4
• U/17 Girls: 2-0
• U/20 Men: 1-2
• U/20 Women: 2-0

Wednesday –

Wednesday was looked back on as the busiest day of the week with teams playing all at the same time across the course of the day. Our undefeated U/17 Girls started the day with a game against Berwick College where they again put their dominance on display, winning 64-44. Our U/20 Men also began the day with an early game against The Scots College. Our senior boys showed everyone that if they work together and put hard work over talent, they can be a serious contender in the division. The dominated this game and recorded Tenison Woods Colleges biggest winning margin of the week, winning 81-42. The U/20 Women started their day against Mount Lilydale Mercy College and they continued their undefeated streak, winning their third game 53-34. The U/17 Girls played again on the same day for the first time this week. Their second matchup would be against a future division semi-finalist, the Jets. Our girls had their worst start to date, letting the opposition get out to a 12-point lead. Luckily the young girls had a 25-3 third quarter which put them right back in the driver’s seat. They went on to win their fourth game of the week, 61-55. The U/17 Boys were up next at the State Basketball Centre. Unfortunately for the junior boys, they kept coming up against bigger and better competition every day. Today was no different as they went down by 43 points to the Southport School, 44-87. The final game of the day saw our U/20 Men come up against longtime rival, Cabra Dominican College. After the first few minutes where tempers settled we sore the opposition completely man-handle us inside. This dominance shown by the Cabra team led to us going down 38-54 to the eventual silver medalists.

• U/17 Boys: 0-5
• U/17 Girls: 4-0
• U/20 Men: 2-3
• U/20 Women: 3-0

Thursday –

As we moved closer to the end of the week, the round games were finishing up and the finals were beginning as we sore teams true colours come out to play. Our U/20 Men started the day with their last round game against the eventual division winners, Guilford Young College. Although we started well the GYC team showed our boys how a true should play basketball, this led to our finals spot being in doubt after a 47-68 loss. Our U/17 Girls also had one more round game remaining for the week as they came up against the other tournament favorite, Rowville Secondary College. Our women’s teams always have great battles with the Rowville girls and this game was no different. In a tough game our U/17 girls won 58-50, finishing the round games undefeated and moving into finals in first place. From there it was on to the first lot of finals games for Tenison Woods College as our U/20 Women crossed over against Central Coast Adventist School. Our senior girls had gone through the week undefeated and displayed this dominance in their first finals game, winning 65-32 and advancing to the semi-finals. After a very tough week for the U/17 boys, they crossed over against the other pool in a classification game against Berwick College. The boys played outstanding and worked together to earn their first win of the week, winning 61-51. Our junior boys showed excellent resilience throughout the week to keep getting out their every game and giving their teammates the best possible chance to win. Next we moved back to the U/20 Men’s division, and after finding out that we still made it through to the semi-final stage, our senior men were in for a rematch with Guilford Young College. Although the boys put their best foot forward, we were simply outclassed by a very good basketball team. This then put us in the bronze medal match on Friday. The next game on the agenda was widely considered but all Tenison Woods College staff and students as the game of the week. It was the semi-final for our U/20 Women’s team as they came up against Guilford Young College. This game was tough and gritty and put our senior women in a really good position to pull off a gutsy win. This was a game where the school can be very proud of the school spirit shown by all spectating students as they rallied around our senior girls to try and will them to a victory. Unfortunately, the girls came up against a superstar standard of basketball displayed by a player on the opposing team and went down by 2, putting us in the bronze medal game on the Friday morning. Immediately following the U/20 Women’s game was the U/17 Girls semi-final against the Jets. Our girls proved they belonged in the gold medal game with a dominant semi-final performance over their opposition, they eventually went on to win 55-38, booking their place in the grand final and a rematch with Rowville Secondary College.

• U/17 Boys: 1-5
• U/17 Girls: 6-0
• U/20 Men: 2-5
• U/20 Women: 4-1

Friday –

The last day of any tournament is filled with excitement and anticipation but also sadness and things are coming to an end. We were all very happy with the week that we had in Melbourne and now it was time to finish it all off with our final games of the week. Our U/20 Girls started off the final day of competition with their bronze medal game against Willetton Senior High School. The girls put forward good effort the entire game but their shots just wouldn’t drop down the stretch of the game, going down 37-44. This meant our girls finished fourth in their division, an accomplishment we were very proud of. Our U/17 Boys had their final game against Lowanna College and although they showed real heart to stay in the game in the first half, they had a similar problem to the U/20 Women as they couldn’t get a shot to drop and the other team couldn’t miss. Our boys fell to Lowanna College, 61-76. The U/20 Men were up next against fellow South Australian School, Encounter Lutheran College. This was a rematch of the opening game of the week and you could see the improvement of the senior men as they turned a 28-point loss into an 8-point game. The boys played really welled and topped off a good week with a solid team performance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get over the strong Encounter team. Putting the boys in the same position as the girls, finishing fourth in their division. Now it was on to our division 1 gold medal game for our U/17 Girls. The much anticipated rematch against Rowville was booked for the State Basketball Centre and the stage was set. Unfortunately, our girls were slow out of the gates and couldn’t recover. The Rowville team came back after their loss to us in the round games and played with outstanding poise which left our girls asking for more of each other. The girls ended up going down 30-50 but we could not be prouder of our young girls as they displayed excellence throughout the entire week and did the college proud in every way.

• U/17 Boys: 1-6
• U/17 Girls: 6-1
• U/20 Men: 2-6
• U/20 Women: 4-2

With the event coming to an end we had to turn our attention to the sadder side of things as we said goodbye to some of our Tenison Woods College Titans for the last time. The College would like to thank and congratulate the following students on their service to the college sporting program over their time at the College: Jordyn Adams, Josh Berry, Emily Close, Ross Mackle, Harry McInnes and Rori Perryman.

Jordan Gould | Sports, Recreation and Administration Trainee

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