A junior basketball tournament was held in Naracoorte over the weekend and the Millicent Magic flexed its strength with some strong performances across several divisions.
There were two Magic teams who competed in the Under 12 Girls’ competition and both sides made the grand final.
During the round-robin stage, the top Millicent team won all four games in emphatic fashion as it scored 180 points and conceded just 25.
The Division 2 side started its tournament with a narrow loss to Casterton but defeated the Mount Gambier Lakers 30-10 to advance through to the third v fourth grand final.
This contest saw the Magic second team take on Casterton again where they suffered a one-point loss.
Millicent was too strong in the main grand final as it defeated the Naracoorte Kings to take home the silverware.
The Under 14’s Girls side claimed comfortable wins in the two pool games over the Murray Bridge Bullets and Mount Gambier Lakers Blue.
In the semi-final, Millicent claimed a 45-21 win to move into the grand final where they met the Mount Gambier Lakers Gold.
All players made contributions in the grand final and some strong defence limited the Lakers’ opportunities.
The Magic made the most of scoring opportunities from turn overs and went on to claim a 45-22 victory.
Across the weekend, Lucy Crowe and Amarlie Thompson were the top-scorers but all players made handy contributions to the score sheet.
The Under 16 Girls’ side both made finals and the Division 1 Magic claimed the win in the grand final, while the Division 2 girls were runners-up to Naracoorte.
Jeda Hibberd and Asha Gysbers were the top-scorers for the second team.
After a solid first half, Naracoorte’s defence restricted Millicent on the offensive end and the Kings ran away in the second half to claim an 18-point win.
The Under 18 girls made it through to the grand final after two wins in the group stage but fell short to local-rivals Mount Gambier, who claimed the victory.
There were two boys sides who impressed for Millicent over the weekend.
The Under 14 Division 1 side finished runner-up to Mount Gambier after an impressive group stage where there was nothing to split the pair as both teams claimed three wins and one loss.
In the Under 16 boys’ competition, Millicent went one better and claimed victory in its final.
The group stage was tight as the Magic suffered a one-point loss to Mount Gambier, tied with Naracoorte and claimed a solid win over Murray Bridge.
