For the first time in the history of the club, the Deniliquin Junior Giants took to the courts in the well regarded Maryborough tournament at the weekend.
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Of the Deni teams, it was the under-18s girls who performed best.
They finished runners-up against Maryborough.
Having played in the tough Wodonga tournament only a week earlier, the girls were determined to turn their luck around at Maryborough.
They made the best start possible against Warrnambool with a 19-15 win.
Emma Parks lead the way offensively with nine points.
She was well supported by some strong defence from Kate Westcott, Mia Parks causing multiple turnovers and Bonnie Everett rejecting anything close to the rim and rebounding everything else.
The second game had the Giants girls matched to the tournament home team of Maryborough.
Maryborough was well drilled and were just too strong, running out 34-11 winners.
The highlight of this game was Trinity Larcombe standing strong in defence and taking a beautiful charge.
On the Sunday morning, the girls took on Border Sports Academy.
The game was back and forth in the first half with the teams tied at half time.
The second half was all Giants, with Mia Parks scoring 11 points, supported by Bonnie Everett with eight.
As the pressure was applied, Jarrah Fitzpatrick stood tall in defence stopping fast break after fast break to stop Border’s fast paced scoring style.
The girls finished second on the ladder with two wins and a loss, and were matched with Warrnambool for the semi-final.
Warrnambool had improved over the weekend and took a lead through some quality shooting.
The Giants needed someone to stand up and Mia Parks (10 points), Stella White (6) and Trinity (6) took up the challenge.
With 30 seconds to go the game was tied.
Mia was fouled on a drive and knocked down one out of two free throws to give the Giants the lead.
Warrnambool countered with a drive and free throws of their own.
They missed both and a big rebound from Bonnie, great pass from Mia and a goal with less than a second to Trinity gave the Giants the win 25-22 and a grand final berth.
The girls were up against Maryborough in the grand final.
The task was to limit their three point shots and apply pressure defensively.
The game started well with Emma scoring a nice lay-up through traffic.
Maryborough showed their class and knocked down two three pointers to get the lead.
The game ebbed and flowed with Maryborough winning most of the 50/50 balls, taking the lead at half time.
Hayley Noonan was given a job defensively and pulled in plenty of rebounds to limit Maryborough’s second chance scoring.
Mia, Kate and Stella brought the pressure at the three point line and stopped Maryborough’s scoring.
They were unable to score in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Donnie and Jarrah developed a nice give-and-go to build pressure with Emma, Trinity and Stella providing scoring pressure also.
The lead given in the first half was a step too far, with Maryborough winning a cracking grand final 29-19.
The under-18s boys came up against home town Maryborough in the first game and after hearing their impressive tournament success - three wins from 3 in their last tournament appearances - the pressure was on.
Maryborough started strong sinking three consecutive three pointers, but the Deni boys kept at them.
With less than two minutes to go, they hit the front by two points.
But a free throw and three pointer in the last seconds gave Maryborough a three point win.
The boys came out strong in the second game against an unknown Ararat team.
With some great passages of play and accurate shooting, they were able to take a 44-36 win.
Game three was against ladder leader Terang, and it was going to be tough.
The Giants gave Terang an early lead before getting back into it.
They were only down by two points at half time, but a lapse in concentration going into the second half allowed Terang to get out to an 18 point lead.
The Giants fought back but went down by eight points at the final siren, 41-29.
In the final game of the tournament, the under-18 boys started well and were in front most of the game.
In the last 10 minutes of the game Mildura got a few quick threes and the scores were level.
The boys kept the pressure on in both defence and offense, determined to get the win and finishing the tournament on a high.
The under-16s girls had a tough tournament coming up against some very strong, well drilled and skilful players.
Although unable to secure a win over the weekend, the score lines did not indicate the endeavour and improvement of the team.
The girls went down to Seymour 12-61, Maryborough 13-37, Portland 22-47 and Terang 17-40.
The under-16s boys had a great start to the tournament coming from behind to win a nail biter over home town hosts Maryborough Blue by one point.
The final score was 40-39, with a three-pointer from Josh Todd on the siren.
Game two was much the same as game one, only this time Jai Park hit a three-pointer to level the scores on the siren 36-all against Border Sports Academy in Mildura.
Unfortunately the boys were unable to replicate their round one win again, going down to the sharp shooting Maryborough Yellow 67-31 in game three.
In the last game, the side came up against unknown Ararat Redbacks.
Deni played a great brand of basketball however fell short 35-37.
Overall it was a great team performance by the under-16s boys, who will be keen to go one better next weekend in Benalla.
The under-14s boys once again showed that they play their best basketball in the afternoon.
The first game of the tournament was an early start.
Terang caught a quick, early break and the Giants struggled to keep up with the pace being set going down 43-21.
In game two against Seymour, the boys were ready and raring to go showing lots of energy and determination for the entire game.
They came out with a convincing win 30-19.
Their third game for Saturday was an absolute thriller against Border Sports Academy.
As per the previous hit out against this team in Shepparton, this game was insanely loud.
The boys did well handling every bit of pressure being thrown at them, enjoying a fantastic 30-26 win.
It was another early start Sunday morning, and unfortunately the boys just couldn't find the energy they had in the previous two games.
Maryborough took the win this time, 26-19.
Although not winning a game, the under-14s girls had a successful tournament and showed increased improvement and commitment to the game.
The side had a one point loss to Terang, 23-24, in game one.
This was followed by a five point loss to Warracknbeal, 19-24, and a draw with Maryborough Yellow in game three.
The fourth was the toughest for the girls, who came up against a strong Maryborough Blue and lost 9-31.
The under-14s boys development team had a challenging time in their games with some tough competition and a lot of hurdles to overcome.
The team had injuries, players away and team members playing up.
The team welcomed Alex Ledwidge and Ollie Ives as fill ins. They handled themselves well.
Will Armytage also played his last tournament with the Giants due to his school commitments.
The team will now work hard at training and look forward to Benalla.
The under-12s boys started the tournament strong with two wins on Saturday.
They had a hard fought five point win over Maryborough Blue.
After gaining a solid lead Deni let Maryborough claw their way back in the second half, but some strong drives for the Giants secured the win.
In game two, the Giants took on fellow Deni team - the under-12 development side - and came away with thier second win.
The boys were up and about sitting on top of the ladder after day one, but day two was going to be tough.
On Sunday they suffered a loss to shooting machines Horsham, 18-33.
The last game was for a spot in the grand final for the winners.
The Giants started strong and took an early lead with accurate shooting and good team play.
Maryborough Yellow wanted a home grand final appearance and came out strong in the second half.
Emotions were high in the Giants camp and they couldn't hold off the Blazers, and eventually lost by 15 points.
The under-12s boys development team started the tournament against a strong, accurate shooting team in Seymour and lost 14-33.
Up against the other Deni side in game two, everyone was keen to see how it would play out on and off the court.
The final score did not reflect the game played.
The Deni Giants A team started off strong and played strong until the end.
The development team came in hard for the second half and it heated up on court and on the sidelines.
The boys displayed great sportsmanship towards each other and it was a great game to watch.
In game three Deni lost to Terang, 13-31.
They played a great game, but Terang was just too accurate under the ring.
The boys gave Maryborough too big of a lead in the first half of the last game and despite a huge effort in the second went down 24-42.
All 10 Deni Junior Giants teams will travel to to Benalla this weekend.
It will be the last tournament of the season for the under-18s and under-16s.
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