ROLLERS’ FAIRYTALE FINISH
TWO gold medals, a silver and a fairytale run to the top four was the sizeable return for Gold Coast clubs from the U18 State Basketball Championships tournament which concluded Sunday.
The biggest storyline was the Gold Coast Rollers Division 1 Girls team, which avenged a grand final loss to the Mackay Meteorettes two years ago to beat the same opponents 89-70 and capture the gold medal.
The victory meant the Rollers group, who were coached by former NBL player and New Zealand legend Pero Cameron, completed their juniors by winning the state title in every age group with the exception of U16s in 2020.
Gold Coast steamrolled its way through the tournament, going undefeated and producing a dominant second half to record a 19-point victory.
“I’ve been court announcing for about 25 years and I was actually getting a bit choked up in that one because I was so happy for the girls,” Gold Coast Basketball GM Joel McInnes said.
The Rollers Division 1 Boys finished runners-up for the second year in a row, just falling to a star-studded Northside Wizards team 7767 in the grand final.
Coach Steve Kerr said he was proud of his team despite the loss after the group turned around a poor start to the season to win the SQJBC gold medal and a State Championships silver medal.
Gold Coast’s tournament also included a gold medal for the Waves in the Division 2 Boys tournament.
But the biggest surprise of the tournament was the emergence of the North Gold Coast Seahawks, who behind the form of star forward Amarco Doyle, turned around a winless SQJBC season to make it all the way to the semi-finals of the state championships and just miss out on a bronze medal.