Australian Schools Championships recap
The Australian School’s Champions have been decided in Bendigo after some absolutely thrilling games on the final day of the 2010 Australian Schools Championships.
Sydney Boys High (NSW) were crowned the Australian Men’s Champion school after defeating Newington College (NSW) 81 – 79. Both schools entered the grand final match undefeated after cruising through the regular rounds, quarter final and semi-final matches, we knew that this game was going to be close and the strong crowd in attendance didn’t leave disappointed.
The first quarter was an exchange of buckets with scores tied at 25 apiece at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter however saw Sydney Boys High take a small lead into half time break after their point guard Emmett Narr sunk a huge 3-point basket with just seconds remaining on the clock 44 – 41.
The margin extended as far as nine points in favour of Sydney Boys High during the 3rd quarter, both teams worked hard on the boards but the combination of Emmett Naar and Andrija Dumovic for Sydney was one of the main determining factors in maintaining the lead going into the last quarter 66-60.
Newington College failed to connect on their first five shots of the fourth quarter as Sydney Boys High made them pay for their costly mistakes and quickly blew the margin out by ten. Sydney Boys High looked to have the game in the bag but someone forgot to tell Newington College that as they fought hard and narrowed the margin to just two points with less than three minutes to go in the game.
Newington’s Daniel Hill’s hit a massive three point basket with less than a minute to go and tied the scores up 79 a piece, Lachlan Urwin picked up a costly 5th foul which sent Sydney’s Emmett Narr to the line for two but he failed to convert both shots, their big man Dumovic grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back up for two points.
Newington College inbounded the ball and fed it to Daniel Hill who missed a crucial three, Kristian Polette grabbed the offensive board when straight up for the shot to only have it blocked by Sydney’s Andrija Dumovic. Sydney Boys High winning the championship 81 – 79.
Sydney Boys High
Emmett Narr 23points, Daniel Jones 19 pts and Andrija Dumovic 16 points
Newington College
Nic Kay 25 points, Daniel Hill 20 and Lachlan Urwin 18 points
1st - Sydney Boys High
2nd - Newington College
3rd - St Patricks College
4th - Concordia College
5th - Mountain Creek State High School
6th - Willetton Senior High
7th - Lake Ginninderra College
8th - Guilford Young College
John Paul College (QLD) were crowned the Australian Women’s Championship school after defeating Caulfield Grammar (VIC) 61-60 in the gold medal game.
In a round robin competition John Paul College breezed through the competition annihilating all of their competitors by no less than 31 points, John Paul College defeated Caulfield Grammar on the first day of competition by 42 points 75-33.
In what most thought would have been a one sided affair turned out to be completely the opposite as Caulfield Grammar definitely came to play. There was only two points in it at the end of the first quarter 15-13 in favour of John Paul College.
At the beginning of the second quarter Lauren McKenzie was substituted back into the game for Caulfield Grammar and made an instant impact by scoring two points to tie the scores, the game then became a basket for basket affair as both teams made some costly turnovers which were converted at both ends of the court. John Paul College went into the half time break 28-26.
The third quarter continued in the same fashion as the first half and was tightly contested in the paint, the defensive effort by Caulfield Grammar forced Coach Foster to mix up his rotations as his team tried to find the right mix to break the gap. The margin never increased and John Paul College went into the third quarter 47-45.
It was money time and John Paul College started to show the form they had in the regular rounds and extended their lead to as much as 12 points with six minutes to go in the game, Caulfield Grammar were searching for some help and Ashleigh Stonehouse stepped up to the challenge the margin creped down to be four, three, two and then one with John Paul College being the first team forced into taking a time-out.
With less than a minute to go the game was anyone’s for the taking, Maddison Allen continued to dominate defensively on the boards for John Paul College as she pulled down her 10th defensive board of the game. With 50 seconds to go in the game Caulfield’s Ashleigh Stonehouse missed her first but converted the second free-throw to narrow the margin to just one point, John Paul College missed the next two shot attempts then a turnover gave the ball and potentially the game to Caulfield.
The play was set 13 seconds on the clock, ball was inbounded and passed to Marena Whittle for the two, she misses, John Paul’s Maddison Allen pulls down the rebound and is fouled by Emma Gilsenan, timeout John Paul College the coaching instructions were simple and that was to run out the clock to which they did to take out the 2010 Australian Schools Championships.
John Paul College
Ashley Taia 14 points, Maddison Allen 13 points and Mikhaela Donnelly 13 points
Caulfield Grammar
Ashleigh Stonehouse 16 points, Marena Whittle 14 points and Stephanie Waite 14 points
1st - John Paul College
2nd - Caulfield Grammar
3rd - Xavier High School
4th - Immanuel College
5th - Willetton Senior High
Don Campus
Other results
Senior Boys Div 1 -Ballarat Clarendon Colleg def St. Dominics College 69-39
Senior Boys Div 2 - Maribyrong College def Bendigo Senior Seconday College 51-49
Senior Boys Div 4 - Eltham College def St. Pauls College 76-42
Senior Boys Div 5 - Christian College Geelong def Macleod College 47 - 24
Senior Girls Div 1 - Maribynong College def Ballarat High School 75 - 64
Senior Girls Div 3 - Tenison Woods College def Aquinas College 48 - 23
Senior Girls Div 4 - Hunter Sports High def Eltham College 32 - 22
Junior Boys Div 1 - China U15's def Marcellin College 58 - 45
Junior Boys Div 2 - St Joseph's College Ferntree Gully def Catholic College Bendigo 37 - 29
Junior Boys Div 3 - St Edmunds College def Bendigo South East College 52 - 49
Junior Boys Div 4 - St Josephs College Ferntree Gully def Unley High School 68 - 32
Junior Boys Div 5 - Christian College Geelong def Brauer College 51 - 48
Junior Girls Div 1 - Westfields Sports High def Rowville Secondary College 50 - 36
Junior Girls Div 2 - Catholic College Bendigo def Mater Christi College 38 - 36
Junior Girls Div 4 - Denmark High School def Damascus College 50 - 43
Junior Girls Div 5 - Beaconhills College def Wedderburn College 43 - 34
Tony