THE Sale Sonics under 12 girls’ basketball team made history by winning the Sale Amateur Basketball Association’s first ever division one country championship title in 12 girls.
Sale dominated against the best teams from across Victoria at the country championships in Bendigo. The Sonics went through the weekend undefeated, winning all games by an average margin of 40 points.
It’s the first time the Sale Sonics have won the under 12 girls’ division one title in the 50-year history of the event.
The success means they will represent country Victoria at the National Junior Classic, to be held at Dandenong in June.
The Sale under 12 boys also made their mark, finishing fifth in the state, making the weekend one of SABA’s most successful.
The girls team of Katelyn Robinson, Sienna Wynd, Ashley Centra, Lola Wilson, Ally Beale, Jemma Birss, Tayli Dimarco, and Sophia Wilson has dominated the Gippsland tournament circuit, with a 30-game winning streak — making it through all Gippsland tournaments undefeated.
At the weekend the Sonics defeated Wangaratta 82-0, Terrang 72-8, Portland 67-18, Southern Peninsula 84-4, Warrnambool 62-11, Colac 56-10, Traralgon 53-13, Bendigo 65-13, and Wodonga 44-16. The girls came up against local rival Traralgon again in the grand final, convincingly winning 40-12.
Maffra had a good start to its tournament, winning its three matches in the first group phase against Yarra-Mul (53-8), Colac (35-28) and Leongatha (31-20).
On day two, the Eagles lost their second phase matches against Bendigo 35-28, Terange 29-26 and Bellarine 35-30 to progress to division two the next day.
The Eagles defeated Warrnambool 37-35 in the quarter-finals, then lost to Melton 31-29 in the semi-finals.
The Maffra under 12 boys’ team made the division one semi-finals.
Defeated by Wodonga during the first group stage, victories over Ballarat (46-28),Wonthaggi (47-29), Korumburra (32-31), Sale (44-41) and Traralgon (34-24) booked them a place in division one.
The Eagles defeated Warragul 55-39 in the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Wodonga 49-39 in the semi-finals.
The Sale boys played an awesome weekend of basketball, finishing fifth, also knocked out by Wodonga.
The Sale boys made it through the first day of the tournament undefeated with wins over Warragul (41-37), Warrnambool (35-34), Shepparton (28-21) and eventual grand finalist Traralgon (42-22).
On day two, the Sonics lost a close match to Maffra 44-41, lost to Korumburra 44-22, and were then knocked out in the quarter-finals by Wodonga, 44-28.
