Ash Bolt
Geelong United’s junior basketballers follow up its success at the first weekend of Colac’s Bulla Classic with another strong weekend of results, including three championships.
Geelong teams claimed the title in both of the under-14 girls divisions and under-12 boys third division, while Surfcoast Chargers also claimed a win in the under-14 boys third division.
One of the most impressive performances across the weekend came from Geelong United’s under-14 girls 1 team.
The team staked its claim as the team to beat in division one early, going three from three on Saturday in its pool games including a 48-point win over Portland.
Finishing on top of the ladder saw the team move into the semi-final against Hamilton on Sunday.
United booked its spot in the final with another dominant win, 44-25.
The team was tested in the grand final by Warrnambool, but Geelong proved too strong and claimed a nail-biting one point win to be crowned champion.
Jada Button top scored for Geelong in the final with 16 points.
It was a similar story for the under-14 girls 2 team, who proved too strong in the second division.
The started the weekend with a seven-point loss to Warrnambool, but went on a tear afterwards, winning its next four games.
It beat Maryborough and Port Fairy comfortable in its remaining pool games, conceding just 14 points across the two, to qualify for the semi-finals.
It faced another Warrnambool team and won comfortably, 30-19, to set up a rematch with Warrnambool in the grand final.
Geelong showed its improvement in that game and claimed the championship with a 38-23 win, with Taya Hunter top scoring with 11 points.
The quality of Geelong’s under-14 girls was on show with a third team making the semi-finals of the second division.
On the boys’ side, the under-12 Boys 3 team went undefeated across the weekend as it also claimed a championship in the third division.
The boys went three from three on Saturday with wins over Bellarine, Warracknabeal and Colac, before returning on Sunday with a 23 point win over Koroit in the final group game.
The wins meant Geelong qualified for the grand final against Warracknabeal, who it beat for the second time, 26-12, to win the title.
The Surfcoast Chargers also came away from the weekend with a championship, meeting Geelong United in the final of under-14 boys third division.
Both the Surfcoast under-14 boys 2 and Geelong United under-14 boys 5 were the standouts in their group.
They both defeated the other two teams in the group comfortably, with Surfcoast getting a 10-pint win when they faced each other.
They both moved onto the semi-finals and both picked up close wins.
Geelong defeated Warracknabeal 33-31 and Surfcoast defeated Warrnambool 24-20 to set up a rematch in the grand final.
In the grand final, Surfcoast again proved too strong, taking out a 42-31 win, with Taylor Carr top scoring with 12 points.
Geelong United also had its under-14 girls 1 team and Surfcoast had its under-12 boys team make grand finals, but both came up short in an amazing weekend of basketball.
