QUEENS LANDER
THE Gold Coast Waves under-18s have soared to back-to-back Queensland championships after a flawless week of basketball at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre.
There’s no doubting this team is special, and for more reasons than talent.
According to coach Cassie Dover, they have a special attribute in spades … mateship.
THERE’S no doubt the Gold Coast Waves girls team, which completed a clean sweep of state championships in its age group on Sunday, has a depth of talent that every coach would dream of.
But for coach Cassie Dover, there’s one quality which makes this group special.
“Mateship,” Dover said. That quality was on display more than ever this under-18s season, where the Waves overcame the absences of starters – Shorna Preston and Layla Cameron – to claim the Basketball Queensland state championship following an 81-66 victory over the Mackay Meteorettes.
The team also did it in front of its home fans at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre and in true team style, it achieved the feat with multiple contributors.
Jess Petrie led the scoring with 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Jade Peacock (17 points and nine rebounds), Lilly Rotunno (15 points) and Katelyn Donovan (12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists) also shined the brightest on the big stage.
“We didn’t execute our scout on Mackay well early on in the game and we just called an early time-out just to get the girls out of their heads a little, Dover said.
“But after that we managed to get better and better as the game went on and got the job done.
“Jess (Petrie) has been a bit touch and go at times and we had other players such as Skye Mason step up to cover, especially when Jess went out early with foul trouble, but she was absolutely huge in the second half.
“But as we usually do it was just a team effort, from everyone, the starters, the girls on the bench who also made big contributions today and throughout the season.”
This Waves team is special. The group has won every state title in this age group since under-12s, including a national club championship. But Dover said the players needed to band together this year more than ever.
“We really just focused on our mateship because we obviously had two key players missing and some girls new to the group, including me, so we just wanted to stick together,” she said,
Gold Coast Basketball couldn’t complete the double, with the Waves boys going down 100-77 to the Townsville Heat in the grand final.
Rory Hawke, Kaleb Mitchelhill and the Townsville bigs in Luca Yates and Marshall Wilson proved too much for the Waves to overcome, especially with talented Gold Coast big man Elijah Kamu in foul trouble.
Joshua Wolff was impressive for the Waves with 28 points and nine rebounds.
“There’s a lot of talent and potential in this group and a lot of these boys are still bottom age so there’s a bright future for this team,” Waves coach Steve Kerr said.