Millicent Magic achieved great results at Horsham. Millicent Basketball took 3 teams to Horsham last weekend and all 3 played their way into Grand Finals. Under 14 ‘division’ girls and under 14 ‘division 2’ boys had outstanding weekends by winning their respective Grand Finals. The under 16 girls also had success not losing a game up until the Grand Final.

The under 14 girls performed very well over the weekend only dropping one game but turned that result around when they played the same team the next day.

The 1^st game against Hamilton was close in the early stages and late in the game, but the middle was dominated by Magic getting to a 8 point led but to only win by 1 point in a close finish. Hamilton had height and used it well and the girls struggled with this until they worked out they could score by moving the ball quickly. Isabell Turner, Maddie Turner and Keely Venn combined well to score and Lauren Fensom played solid defence on the big player from Hamilton. The final score was 26/25 in Magic’s favour.

The 2^nd game on Saturday was against Horsham with the Magic girls getting their game right from the start playing well with Maddie Turner and Isabell Turner finishing their attacks on the basket and tremendous defence from Alana Craig who showed real leadership and coupled with the Venn twins Jess and Chloe they created a 38/30 win.

The 3^rd game against Port Fairy was not the Magic girls best game and led to a loss with the score being 29/16. Pt. Fairy played extremely well scoring from almost every shot they put up and it did not help when Keely Venn was injured which kept her from playing the remainder of the weekend. Despite all of this, the girls kept trying but nothing was working.

Sunday’s game first up was against Port Fairy which was a semi- final and Magic despite being one player down, played very well both in defence and offence with Maddie Turner and Isabel Turner finding ways to get to the basket and score, while Alana Craig and Lauren Fensom were blocking out well that created many opportunities for their team. The result was a win 20/16 that placed them in the Grand Final.    

Later on Sunday the Grand Final was played against Hamilton and our girls played extremely well but the game was a war of attrition as both teams were tough in defence and both teams struggled to score. Lauren Fensom did a great job battling with the big girl from Hamilton and while this was going on, Maddie Turner was a power of strength and coupled with Alana Craig, Isabel Turner and Chloe and Jess Venn they combined well to keep Magic in front long enough to win with a score of   20/17

The under 16 girls started the weekend off with an early morning message stating that 2 of the 8 players were unable to attend the weekend due to illness. After a few hasty phone calls at 6.30am Saturday morning a replacement was found and the team was off to Horsham. On arrival Keah Lynch was not well and all looked very tough for the weekend. The 1^st game was against Hamilton where the girls started off slowly and it was a real struggle to score and early foul trouble on Alex Walker didn’t help. Eventually the girls found their way and caught up a small deposit through some good shooting from Annabel Brooks and determined defence from Olivia Fuller. Hamilton always found a way to answer and in the last few minutes of the game Millicent was down by 4 points and looking likely to lose but with extra ball pressure, tough defence and a determined offensive drive to the basket from Walker and an accurate shot from Brooks, the girls managed to draw the game at the end with the score at 28 each.

The 2^nd game was against Warrnambool B and the result was a convincing win to Magic with Olivia Fuller, Alana Winter and Annabel Brooks applying plenty of defensive pressure that created plenty of scoring opportunities for Alex Walker, Leila Bulhmann, Grace Chay and Keah Lynch. The final score being 57/19.

Game 3 on Sunday morning was against Warrnambool A and another determined effort from all girls placed the team in a winning position 50 /22. This win placed the girls in a cross over final against Ararat who had been in good form in their previous games. The final started off fairly even with both teams finding holes in the defence early to score but Magic soon tightened up. This caused Ararat to make ball handling errors that resulted in a few quick, easy scores for Magic. This set the tone of the game from here on and the Magic girls always had the game under control despite it being a fairly tough encounter. Alex Walker , Alana Winter, Leila Bulhmann, Olivia Fuller and Annabel Brooks played very well in this game. The final score was 34/21.  

This win placed the team in the Grand Final against the hometown team Horsham. In this game our girls were very slow out of the blocks and struggled to stop the ball movement and power of the Horsham team which saw them down by 16 points at the half way mark in the game. After the break, through good defensive work by Alex Walker and Alana Winter and a more consistent effort getting pressure on the ball and the ball carriers from Horsham, our girl started to gain a bit of control. With 6 minutes to go in the game the girls more aggressive play was starting show on the scoreboard and the difference was only 10 points and the momentum of the game had changed in Magic’s favour. The last minutes were a real grind with girls running on empty but to their credit refusing to give in and this saw the score line come within 5 points at the end. Horsham were the winners 42 – 37.

The under 14 div 2 boys had a tough draw for the weekend as the2 divisions were combined and the Magic boys had 3 games in quick succession. The boys managed to get 2 wins which allowed them to finish 3^rd in their section which placed them in the Grand Final against Ararat.

In the first game, Magic played against Warrnambool. This game was a close encounter for the entire 40 minutes. In the dying stages of the game, Magic were down by 1 point when Matt Withers drove to the basket and passed off to Alex Buhlmann who converted the shot to give Magic a 1 point win 35 to 34.

One hour later the boys played their second game for the weekend. This game was against Portland B. Portland got off to a good start in this game leading Magic by 16 points at the half time break. The Magic boys settled after the break and slowly chipped away at Portland’s lead. Consistent scoring from Will Chay, Tanner Stuart and Hamish McRae allowed the Magic boys to claw their way back into the game. The boys were able to get in front in the last minute of the game, and smart passing and control of the ball from Matt Withers, Alex Buhlmann and Will Chay gave the Magic boys a 3 point win. The final score was 38 to 35.

After another one hour break, the boys played their 3^rd game for the day against Hamilton’s Division 1 side. A very tired Magic team battled bravely but were unable to match the strength of Hamilton and went down 25 to 50.

On Sunday morning the boyscame up against the crack Division 1 team from Horsham who gave them a lesson in full court basketball. The boys struggled against Horsham’s press and took a full half of basketball before they could consistently score points. The Magic boys were defeated 55 to 11.

The 2 wins in the early rounds put the boys into 3^rd place in their section which guaranteed them a place in the Division 2 Grand Final against Ararat.

In the Grand Final the boys had learnt from the previous game and applied their own full court defensive pressure. Great defensive efforts by Doug Treloar, Will Chay and Bailey Murphy and accurate shooting from Alex Buhlmann, Tanner Stuart, Hamish McRae and Matt Withers put the Magic boys in front early and they kept their foot on the pedal to run out winners 55 to 35.

This coming weekend Millicent has eight teams travelling to Victor Harbor to participate in their last tournament for 2012.