General News
19 February, 2022
Five weeks to finals: Wildcats journey to near grand final victory
“IT was a bit of a shock.” Those are the words of Dean Gunn who helped coach the Warracknabeal Wildcats Under 12 girls to near victory,
“IT was a bit of a shock.”
Those are the words of Dean Gunn who helped coach the Warracknabeal Wildcats Under 12 girls to near victory in the Horsham inter-association basketball tournament last weekend.
The side competed in its first basketball tournament ever after the team formed and began training together for the first time over the Christmas school holiday break.
They would go on to face experienced teams who have trained and competed together for up to 12 months.
The Under 12 team first faced the Horsham Hornets on home turf on Friday night where they were able to win 24 to four.
On Saturday, in Warracknabeal, they competed against Colac Green, winning 16 to eight, and drew against Colac White.
Then on Sunday, back in Horsham, they won their semi-final match against Colac Green 20 to seven before heading to the grand finals for a narrow loss against Colac White, seven to nine.
“They did an awesome job considering they haven’t played any sort of tournament basketball before,” Coach Gunn said.
“It was a pretty good group effort. Their defence was unbelievable.
“We were a little unsure about what we were up against because I and none of the girls have been in any basketball tournament before.
“We got away to a good win the Friday night and then we came up against both those (Colac) sides and were pretty competitive there which was a bit of a surprise.
“They lost the grand final which we weren’t expecting to get there but they all had a heap of fun along the way which was the main thing we spoke about; enjoy yourselves and each other’s company and if we can get a couple of wins, that’s a bonus.
“They did that and more, which was great.”
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The near win even had the winning side remark on the incredible heart shown by the side.
There were no big celebrations following the big weekend’s success, with players exhausted from the three day back-to-back games.
But the team will be looking to regroup ahead of this weekend’s tournament in Maryborough before heading off to Colac to hopefully even the score.
Gunn said the Wildcats hope to continue fostering its junior basketballers.
“Being away this weekend, we’ll be staying in cabins in Maryborough so they have more time to hang out with each other and get to know one another which will be another bonus,” he said
“If we can keep a majority of the group together in the under 12s, there's plenty of potential there to improve.”