Fast, furious and highly-skilled action emerged on Elphin Sports Centre over the weekend with Basketball Tasmania's under-16 and under-18 state championships hitting the courts.
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With the under-12s and 14s events held in Devonport and Launceston earlier this month, the tournament marked the third consecutive week of basketball around Tasmania.
Launceston Basketball Association head coach Sarah Veale said all the results were as expected for her seven sides in play.
"Our 18s boys ended up where we expected, playing off against each other in a semi-final. I think there was like three points in it so that was a good result," she said.
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"None of us made the grand final in 16s boys. We had two teams that made semi-finals and lost those Sunday morning - finishing third, fourth and fifth.
"Our 16s girls had a tough result and we expected that. We've had an ongoing focus with our young girls program at the moment with even fielding teams at club level, which is reflected.
"We are strong in our 14s but there's a big gap between."
Aishah Anis and Micah Simpson starred for the under-18 championship winning side, as they averaged 20.5 and 16 points respectively with the under-16s fifth-sixth boys playoff a personal highlight for Veale, coaching her Launceston Lightning Red team to a dominant victory over Clarence.
"For us to win like that, we lost to Clarence in a round game by 20 and for us to come back, make adjustments and play the right way was awesome. A great way to finish for us.
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"It's been a great weekend of basketball however you look at it - win, lose or not. The kids are on the court playing and developing. It's not always about winning - that's always great but it's been a good weekend for basketball."
For Veale, it's not just about increasing LBA's on-court efficiency either.
"It's also a great development tournament for our coaches to be able to coach at the state championships.
"They get exposure to teams that we don't normally get to coach against so it pushes us and helps us develop them further."
The under-10 and 11 championships will be held in Launceston next weekend.
Final results
Under-16 boys
Devonport d Glenorchy
Under-16 girls
Devonport 69 d Kingborough-Huon 32
Under-18 boys
Glenorchy 63 d Launceston 55
Under-18 girls
Launceston 73 d Penguin 64
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