The Belconnen Basketball Sports Centre has played host to the Kate Tominac and John Stelzer College Cup competition. This is an annual event with the eventual winners having the opportunity to participate in the Australian Schools Championships (ASC), Basketball Australia’s national competition at the end of the year. Each state is represented by one school in the Championship division. The Kate Tominac and John Stelzer competition is used to determine which school will represent ACT in the ASC. The ASC competition brings together the country’s best basketball schools to compete in a tournament with the eventual winners being crowned the best school in the country. Basketball ACT will be hosting this competition for the first time in over a decade, in 2014 & 2015 which will see a massive influx of athletes to the Nation’s Capital.
In the women’s competition we saw 6 teams compete for the Kate Tominac Cup which was closely fought out by 3 teams. Lake Ginninderra and Canberra Girls Grammar dispatched their opponents through the general rounds both finishing with a perfect 4-0 record. Daramalan College (2-2) suffered defeats at the hands of Lake Ginninderra and the Canberra Girls Grammar putting them third on the ladder after the 4 rounds. In the semi-finals we saw the Canberra Girls Grammar convincingly defeat St Clare’s College 70-44 to advance to the Grand Final. In the other match Daramalan exacted some revenge on Lake Ginninderra after losing to them earlier in the day winning their match 44-29.
After 5 games of basketball during the day players were getting tired and defence was going to play a big part in the Grand Final. Daramalan held a slim lead at the first quarter break leading 17-13. Things started to tighten up in the third as Daramalan dug in deep on the defensive end to hold Canberra Girls Grammar to a total of 12 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, while scoring 24 points of their own in that time. They proved too strong for the tiring Canberra Girls Grammar squad running out winners 49-37 behind the strong performance of their Bourne sister’s connection. Callie Bourne (13pts), Isabelle Bourne (12), Emma Bourne (7pts) combined for 32 of the teams 49 points.
Seven teams competed in the men’s competition in an attempt to get their hands on the John Stelzer cup. This competition brought together two rivals rich in basketball history. Lake Ginninderra and Erindale College have been battling it out since the inauguration of this competition, both vying off for the chance to represent ACT in the National Schools competition later in the year. Lake Ginninderra and Erindale College finished the general rounds perfect winning all three of their games. In the semi-finals Erindale made easy work of St Edmunds College winning 72-58 with Lake Ginninderra playing their second squad easily winning 70-35.
In the grand final we saw history repeating itself with Lake Ginninderra matching up against their arch rivals Erindale College. Lake Ginninderra bolstered up their attack with AIS athletes Harry Froling and Abiola Akintola partnering alongside these two were Australian representatives Robert Colton and Bul Kuol. This game was a high scoring affair with Erindale leading for most of the game but falling short in the final quarter being outscored 23-11. Strong performance from Erindale College’s Evan Fowler (24pts) and Jarrod Hampton (19pts), but it wasn’t enough for the all-round team game of Lake Ginninderra with 5 of their players scoring double figure points. Lake Ginninderra finds their name on the John Stelzer cup again and now has the opportunity to defend their ASC title in their home town.
The Australian Schools Championships will run from the 1-5 of December at the Belconnen Basketball Sports Centre and other venues around Canberra.
(Media Release Basketball ACT)
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