The Under 18 Sandringham Sabres women’s team decided that ‘togetherness’ would be the theme for the weekend at the National Junior Classic on Kings Birthday weekend at Knox. More accurately, it could have been ‘together we dominate’.
The team of Maddi Carr, Lily Ballarin, Georgia Baensch, Melinna Kapetanas, Makayla Craven, Lily Newman-Morris, Ella Wickstrom, Dakota Ibbott, Maddie Angus, Madi Ryan and Tessa Finch, coached by Sally Burke, didn’t just win the tournament against the best teams in Australia, we did so with fantastically entertaining offense and a stifling team defense.
The wins were impressive. Six wins on the trot with an average winning margin of 27 points per game, the team beat the fourth placed North Adelaide team by 40 in a pool game, the third-placed Eltham team by 30 in the semi-final and the second-placed Dandenong team by 17 in the final. Teamwork was the key – on defense, no team scored more than 47 points against us in the tournament because of the willingness of each player to help their teammates. And on offense, our leading scorers for the tournament were ranked 13th and 15th in the overall scoring for the tournament. But as a team, we averaged around 20 assists per game – proof that this is a team focused on sharing the ball and creating the best shot.
What sets this team apart, even beyond the results, is the way they carry themselves. Many teams that are this good are met with jealousy – our team is met with admiration and support. Other teams and coaches liked playing against our Sabres girls and congratulated the girl’s selflessness. Our players know the importance of winning with humility and treating opponents with dignity.
There are lots of people to thank. Firstly, credit must go to Sally for encouraging the girls to enjoy every moment of basketball that they get to play this year with this team. Secondly, basketball is a difficult game to play and coach, but our team manager, Ash, makes the job so much easier. The parents support every member of the team and endure lots of demands from the coaching team with good spirit. Our Sabres senior coaching staff, and especially DOC Simon Giovannoni, have also been fantastic resources. And it was lovely to see so many club members travel out to Knox to cheer for the team – your presence was felt and appreciated.
The team have now ticked off two major achievements for the year with the tournament wins at Eltham-Dandenong and the Classic. We now have the Victorian State Title to win to finish off the list of achievements we made as a team at the start of the year.
Mike Burke
Assistant Coach and fan.