It appears the popularity of basketball is very strong in our school, with St Mary’s entering seven teams in the 2019 CPS Basketball Challenge in Albury/Wodonga this year.

In the senior division (Years 5 & 6) we entered four teams in total with two boys and two girls teams.

In the Junior Division (Years 3 & 4) we entered 3 teams with two boys and one girls team.

Our St Mary’s teams attended training with their coaches over a number of weeks before this two day event.  Everyone was well drilled and more than ready for the competition to begin.  Each team played three games on the Saturday and the results from these games would seed the teams into divisions for Sundays knockout component of the competition.

The results from the weekend were as follows:

Senior Boys Green, coached by Peter Kelly, won two games on the Saturday and this qualified them for Division 2.  On the Sunday they lost their quarter final to Lavington 33 to 17.

Senior Boys Black, coached by Casey Loudon, won one game on Saturday and this qualified them for Division 3.  On Sunday they lost their quarter final against Griffith.

Senior Girls Yellow were coached by Renee Pettit and Bron Rogers. They came up against some tough teams on the Saturday and did not win a game, but they gave it their best.  On Sunday they placed in Division 4 and had a convincing win against Kiama in the quarter final and lost the semi final.

Senior Girls Pink, coached by Andrew Connellan, won two games on the Saturday and they qualified for Division 2. On the Sunday this little team won their quarter final, but lost the semi-final.

Junior Boys Red, coached by La’Shey Cattle, had one win on the Saturday and they qualified for Division 2.  They unfortunately went down in the semi final on the Sunday.

Junior Boys Blue, coached by Phil Nielsen, won one game on the Saturday which saw them qualify at the top of Division 3. On the Sunday they won their quarter final and semi final easily and went on to the grand final.  The grand final was a heated game against Griffith and they won by 1 point, making them Division 3 winners.  They are shown with their winners medals below.

Junior Girls Purple, coached by Carlie Byrnes, had two wins and a draw on the Saturday which qualified them for a very impressive Division 1 placing on Sunday.  They lost their quarter final against Griffith 9 to 5. Overall they placed 6^th in Division 1.

All teams played with outstanding sportspersonship and represented St Mary’s with great pride and enthusiasm.

A huge thank you must go out to the coaches and managers who donated their time to train and prepare our teams for the tournament and then to coach them through the weekend.

We look forward to CPS 2020.