Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have all claimed crowns at the 2023 Foot Locker Under-20 and Ivor Burge National Championships in Geelong.
In the first national competition of the year – and after six days of intense on-court action – it all came down to Sunday’s results at Geelong Arena.
In a hotly contested matchup in the Men’s Under-20s between Western Australia – who were undefeated during the tournament – and New South Wales, who only dropped one match, it was Western Australia who ultimately took home the gold in a dominant performance – 108 points to 71.
An emerging talent for WA, Ben Henshall, was a standout during the event and in addition to securing a gold, also nabbed the Bob Staunton Medal which is awarded to both the most outstanding male and female player of the tournament.
To cap off an outstanding week, Henshall will don the green and gold in four days’ time when he plays for the Boomers in the final two qualifying matches for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Henshall said he was thrilled that the team’s hard work paid off at the end of the tournament.
“It’s an amazing feeling, we worked hard all week, we started pretty slow, but we had a theme at the start of the week which was ‘why not’ go undefeated and that’s what we did today, and it feels amazing,” Henshall said.
In the Women’s Under-20 game, New South Wales claimed gold against rivals Victoria 71 to 61.
Victoria had the jump at the start, but NSW clawed their way back into the match to take the lead just before half time and eventually run out ten-point winners.
Fittingly, New South Wales Isla Juffermans, was named the Bob Staunton Medallist for the Women’s competition.
“It means everything, honestly I love playing for New South Wales, I have since I was really little and it’s just amazing to finally get a gold at a nationals,” Juffermans said.
“There’s always so much rivalry, even with Queensland, some of my best friends are on that team and it’s just so good to play them and especially to beat Victoria because they are really good”
With fans and family in full voice, the first gold medal of the day went to Victoria in the Women’s Ivor Burge 3x3 competition, defeating New South Wales 15 to 4 to retain their championship title. Victoria’s Montana Haag secured the MVP for the women, while New South Wales’ Mackenzie Wills scored the defensive player of the tournament.
In the Men’s Ivor Burge title fight it was South Australia who claimed their fifth consecutive championship when they defeated Victoria 87 to 64.
Captain of the SA team, Zac Georg-Dent said there was no favourites heading into the tournament.
“The last five years it’s been us and Victoria going at it so there was definitely no favourite and I thought it could go either way,” he said.
“It’s a big rivalry and you always want to see a good battle, but the sportsmanship between the two teams is great.”
Winners:
Men’s Under-20
Gold – Western Australia
Silver – New South Wales
Bronze – Victoria
Women’s Under-20
Gold – New South Wales
Silver – Victoria
Bronze – Queensland
Men’s Ivor Burge
Gold – South Australia
Silver – Victoria
Bronze – Tasmania
Women’s Ivor Burge
3x3 Gold – Victoria
Silver – New South Wales
Bronze – ACT
Individual Award winners:
Men’s Under-20s
Bob Staunton Medal – Ben Henshall (WA)
Defensive player – Noah Pagotto (NSW)
Women’s Under-20s
Bob Staunton Medal – Isla Jufferman (NSW)
Defensive player – Jess Petrie (QLD)
Women’s Ivor Burge
MVP – Montana Haag (VIC)
Defensive player – Mackenzie Wills (NSW)
Men’s Ivor Burge MVP – Jack Gilbertson (TAS)
Defensive player – Jack Innella (VIC)
Across both Men’s and Women’s IB Fair play – Western Australia Men’s team (WA) For all results, click here.
The next national championships will take place in Brisbane when the Under-18 & Kevin Coombs Cup takes place between 9-16 of April.
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