Mountaineers take all comers to claim gold

BASKETBALL: The Toowoomba Mountaineers have finished the BQJBC U18s Southern Cup season on a high, claiming gold with a 7555 defeat of Logan at the weekend.

It completes the perfect season for the young side, going through division two without a loss.

The result continues a fine start to 2019 for the girls, who claimed silver in division two of the state championships in January.

Coach Kabe Cicolini said Saturday night’s final was as much about coming away with the title as it was about proving themselves as a topline team.

“We told ourselves all along that we were a division one team and that we were good enough to compete with those groups, even though we didn’t put it together in the crossover game,” he said.

“To win and win comprehensively, that solidifies that in our mind we are a division one team, particularly after coming second to a talented Townsville team at the states.”

Despite coming into the contest as heavy favourites, the Mountaineers were made to work early in the contest, as Logan kept within a point at the end of the first quarter.

The lead grew narrowly to four at half-time, before Toowoomba was able to come

away in the second half and put the Storm to the sword.

Isabelle Boeske had a game-high 20 points for the Mountaineers, while Lilian Adler had 18.

“Logan is a very physical team, and they have quality players at the point and centre positions,” Cicolini said.

“Abbey (Markey), Jorja (Bolton) and Katelyn (Holt) marking up allowed us to rest Phoebe Hinze, who was able to really fire in the second half.

“Isabelle had a massive second half of the season. She really embraced the style of play we implemented.

“She’s an attack-first player with an aggressive mindset and is consistently not just settling for shots.”

In the U21s Southern Cup, the Mountaineers men were gallant in their 79-71 defeat to North Gold Coast.

Jordan Biggar led from the front with 21 points and Kobi

Hinch added 18, as Toowoomba stuck with the Seahawks for much of the contest, but couldn’t overcome their rivals in the fourth,

The U18s Development Cup boys came away from the competition with a silver medal after going down 98-52 to Northside.

Photo: @basketballqld CHAMPIONS: The Toowoomba Mountaineers won gold in the BQJBC U18s Southern Cup. (Back, from left) Kabe Cicolini (coach), Abbey Markey, Rhiannon Phelan, Phoebe Hinz, Isabelle Boeske, Karina Agius (assistant coach). (Front, from left) Jesse Bolton (manager), Jorja Bolton, Grace Cluderay, Katelyn Holt, Lilian Adler, Hannah Boyd.