Travelling with the boys’ team, St Pats won two of its three round robin games including an overtime win against host school St James College to make the final.

The Bianca Johnstone-coached team again lined up against St James and won 36-32 despite a late comeback from the hosts. 

“Sophie Ackerley was probably the outstanding player, she’s in the Tornadoes program and is very good, and Amie Broad and Grace Wesley played really well in defence,” sports director Craig Boon said. 

“They’re both only in year 8 as well so they played against much older players, and Chloe Heather had a particularly good final, she was one of the best.”

Simon Austen’s boys team also qualified for finals by winning two from three, turning around a 17-point third-term deficit in its second round clash with St Laurence’s College to win by four points.

The boys won their quarter-final against Waverley College but were hampered by an early injury to star player Hayden Zasadny in the semi-final.

Troy Schaeche knocked 29 points in a star solo effort but it wasn’t enough to drag his side into the decider.

“It was probably the best I’ve seen our boys team play, they played so well as a team, everyone played their role and they just really improved through the tournament,” Austen said. 

“The games we lost were all 10 points or less, so for them it was really affirming that a team from Tassie can match it with any team from around the country.

“I think we surprised a few teams both in the girls and the boys because I think a few didn’t expect the Tassie team to be competitive.”