Determined to net three-peat
THEY’VE seen plenty of success in their young careers, but securing a legacy for St Margaret Mary’s basketball side is a hoop dream for two talented 16-year-olds.
Already playing for the Townsville Flames in the Queensland Basketball League, Chailee Ward and Shaylee Browning aren’t strangers to big games and will be crucial for their school’s hopes of securing another state championship when they head to the Championship School Competition month.
Not only are St Margaret Mary’s defending state champions, they’ll be going for a third consecutive title, and while they’ve lost top-end talent following the departure of last year’s Year 12 players, Chailee said the “young” side had been training hard for over two months and were confident of what they could achieve.
“We’ll be against all the from Brisbane, Basketball later this playing schools and we have a younger team this year, but it should be interesting and I think we’ll be competitive,” she said.
Forming a formidable back-court combination with her fellow Flames junior, Shaylee was also confident of going backto-back-to-back.
“We’ll have to play well together, but hopefully we can get it done again this year and get the three-peat,” she said.
“Hopefully we can live up to the (school’s) standards down there and keep the tradition going.”
Coached by teacher Matt Arnold and parent Alison Ward, St Margaret Mary’s sports co-ordinator Ben Luinys said the side was well led and loaded with talent.
Featuring three statelevel players who will combine with up-andcomers, Luinys said the side had the basis for current and future success.
“The girls are very modest, but they’ve been state champions for the last two years and should do really well again,” he said.
“Hopefully they can bring back another title.”