Deb Milgate
Byron Bay’s summer basketball competitions came to a head last week with grandfinals played across the men’s, women’s, primary and high school competitions.
There were some hard-fought close games and all were played in great spirit.
Winners
A-men: Next level beat The Blazers 54–25
Women: Brunsketball beat Blue Steel 43–28
B-men: Daddy Kool beat Js4Days 52–49
High school girls: Black Queens beat Thunderbirds
High school boys: Boos beat the Mambas 92–48
Primary school boys: Stingers beat the Pythons 49–42.
NJL
Byron Bay Basketball has also sent teams to Tamworth and Port Macquarie for the first round of the Northern Junior League.
With just eight players the U/16 Boys managed a valiant two wins and one loss in the championship division. They lost their first game to the Gosford City Rebels, but beat Tamworth and Maitland.
In the final minutes against Maitland, eight consecutive free throws from Harley Kent sealed the win.
The U/18 boys came out firing, taking their free-flowing, passionate brand of ball to current league leaders Gosford, and local rivals Port Macquarie and Coffs. After two early leads and patches of grit, the boys came away with no wins, but better for the experience.
The defending Waratah NJLD1 U/16 girl’s champions, the Byron Beez Black, came away with one win and two losses. Having lost four players from last year’s Championship squad, the Beez started the season well with a solid victory over Taree 77–40. Games against rivals Coffs Harbour and Bellinger Valley proved more challenging.
The U/16 Red girls easily won their first game against a well-drilled Quirindi team, 88–54. The youngest player, Elena Nagel, was a standout out in the game. The team then had a slow start against Taree and eventually lost by three points.
The final game of the weekend was against last year’s State Cup winners Coffs Harbour. The Byron team won two quarters of the game but a depleted bench and tired legs saw the girls unable to repel a strong last quarter from Coffs, narrowly losing against a more fancied team.
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