Saint Joseph's Regional College 9/10 girls attended the NSWCCC state finals last month looking to continue their good form after taking out the Lismore Diocesan championship in August.
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The SJRC started the tournament against a much bigger team in Mount Saint Joseph's Milperra. The game was very fierce and competitive from the outset and Mount Saint Joseph's were able to stifle the SJRC girls and use their size to gain a huge rebounding advantage which turned out to be the difference with SJRC going down 31-33.
The SJRC girls showed great maturity in brushing aside the previous defeat and embrace the mindset: 'to win the State Championship, we must beat everybody'.
The girls got off to a great start against Stella Maris Manly, with the primary focus being to tighten up the defence and become extremely difficult to play against. The girls managed to get on top early and get themselves back into the championship with a very solid 41-14 victory.
The third game of the day had us matched against St Francis De Sales Regional College Leeton needing to win to progress through to Tuesday's quarter finals in the Championship Division. The girls were very dominant, jumping out of the gates and controlling the game to take a comfortable win 44-24.
Tuesday presented a huge challenge, going through to the quarter finals as a number two seed meant that we needed to beat first place in the other three pools to become State Champions. The girls started the quarter final very strongly against McAuley Catholic Central School Tumut and took control to run out comfortable winners 62-35.
The semi-final against reigning champions St Pius X High School Adamstown was going to be a very difficult challenge with both teams playing contrasting styles. The first ten minutes was played on our terms but St Pius were able to stay in the game by converting all twelve of their first half free throws.
At half time our girls were starting to get on top to hold a 23-16 lead. The girls full court pressure at the start of the second half wore down St Pius who were looking to play a far more structured and methodical game style. Defensively the girls were able to shut down the game and only allow four successful baskets for the whole game in general play.
The most pleasing aspect of the quarter and semi-final was that not only did all eleven players provide fantastic defence, they all scored in both games which shows the great talent and depth amongst our squad. The girls then progressed to the State Final after a very strong 43-23 victory over St Pius X High School Adamstown.
The State Championship game had us matched against undefeated St Mary Star of the Sea Wollongong. St Mary's started exceptionally well, shooting the ball at a very high percentage to take an early lead into the first time out 16-6.
Following the time out the girls showed great belief and maturity in regrouping to re-establish our style of play. Instead of playing a conservative style of play, which may have been the case previously, the girls picked up the intensity and committed to putting St Mary's under pressure in the full court allowing us to force turnovers and create a numbers advantage regularly in offence.
To the girls' credit we were able to turn the momentum and take a 27-24 half time lead. With the game very much in the balance, the girls started the second half with great intent and relentless pressure taking control of the game by converting great defence into efficient offence. St Mary's called a time out with our girls leading 37-26 with twelve minutes remaining.
Team discipline and composure was vital to ensure the game was played on our terms for the remainder of the match and full credit goes to the whole team who were able to finish off the tournament in fantastic fashion. Once again the SJRC girl's depth was the key with nine of the girls scoring baskets to win the game 49-35 and come away as State Champions.
Congratulations goes to the following players on becoming NSW CCC State Champions: Georgie Bate, Maddison Baxter, Shannon Burton, Chloe Eichmann, Ella Handley, Prada Hanlan, Emma Humble, Jordynn McAnally, Monique Rudder, Ella Smith, Bridget Williams.
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