What a year it has been for the Columba College Year 9 & 10 Basketball team.

Year 9 Charli Sinclair joined returning Year 10 players Pip Eason, Milla Cashmore, Alex Duff, Lucy Morrison, Ryan Dailey, Amelia Loudon and Millie MacKenzie to assemble one of the most skilled Junior Basketball teams in years.

The season started off well with some convincing wins on Friday nights. Charli, Alex, Lucy, Ryan, Millie and Amelia all played representative U15 Basketball at the same time which provided additional training and tournament experience and it certainly didn’t hurt having six rep players on the team.

The South Island Championship was to be held in Nelson this year and the team was looking forward to the opportunity to play for a top position. A hockey conflict and a few injuries put the Nelson tournament in jeopardy. Most notably, Millie MacKenzie had broken her thumb quite badly at U15 Nationals in Auckland and required surgery!

Coaches Paul Morrison and Brett Dailey scrambled to recruit new players to fill out the roster and were delighted to find some excellent talent in Taylah Ruxton, Jendi Minty and Bella Adams. They joined the team for Friday night games and impressed everyone with their speed, fitness and playmaking abilities. Nelson planning was full steam ahead until … lockdown! That’s right, we just couldn’t seem to catch a break this year and the tournament was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.

It seemed like lockdown would be a rather abrupt end to our season, however, Basketball Otago was determined to finish the season’s playoff games and the team got the opportunity to play Queens in the final shortly after returning to Level 2 restrictions. No fans were allowed but there was a livestream!

Columba College came into the final unbeaten for the season but a strong Queens team was determined to deliver the first loss and snatch the trophy away from the reigning champs. Queens came out strong with good defensive pressure and Columba was admittedly a bit rusty after the three-week lockdown. Queens led 9-8 at the end of Q1. The offensive game picked up in Q2 with both teams starting to find their scoring game. Columba led 21-16 at half time. Columba started to find their stride in the second half, finishing Q3 42-29 and wrapping it up with a final score of 60-35.

A big thanks to our star-studded players for their commitment and sportswomanship this season, our teacher in charge, Mr Stewart Tagg, and also Miss Trisha Hopcroft and Mrs Gretchen Beardmore for keeping us all organised!