The Senior Girls Basketball team persevered through a year full of challenges.

With few senior players, and the challenge of having to adapt to quite a small team, the girls played a strong year considering. After some hard and focused trainings at the start of the season, the team began to take form and we started to learn each other's strengths. From here, the team connection grew. This was shown on and off the court as our games played in the Whelan Trophy significantly improved throughout the season whilst playing against tough competitors.

At the end of August, the girls headed down to Timaru to compete in the South Islands Division Two tournament (Southern Cup). We only had a team of eight at this point due to injuries and other commitments but we still put up a strong fight from start to finish. We had strong wins against Buller High School and Trinity College but unfortunately lost two very close games to put us in the position to play off for 5th and 6th place. Playing against Craighead in the final, we lost an intense game. We were ahead for the majority of the game but were not able to maintain it as Craighead had a strong finish, pulling ahead at the end. We had some tough moments mentally and physically as we came up against some particularly tough teams with many of our players coming off covered in bruises. However, our strong and positive reinforcement from our coaches Charise and Shahanna Martin pushed us through, reminding us never to drop our heads as they had done continuously throughout the season. 

Although the coaches played a vital role in pushing us to do our best, our wins would not have been possible without the self-drive and leadership consistent throughout the team. Great leadership was shown by the senior players in our team, with the younger and newer players always stepping up when necessary. Sadly, we have three year 13s who have had their last season playing for Burnside High School: Paige Eder, the captain of the team, leaving after playing for the team for five years, Trinity Wright, who has been a vital part of the team for four years and Caitlin Dalzell who has improved immensely when joining the team three years ago after moving to Burnside. 

Our team is so grateful for our coaches Charise and Shahanna who have stayed loyal to the senior girls team for many years, constantly looking to improve the girls basketball program, forming strong relationships with their players and always finding our strengths. Also a big thanks to Marinda van Vuuren who managed the team throughout the season. Thank you to all of the parents that came along to support the team, especially to Michelle and Darin Eder for being our manager and parent help on tournament. Thank you also to Rallen Lazo who did an amazing job of being our team referee on tournament, making the effort to travel all the way to Timaru with us.