The Maitland Mustangs under-18 girls are almost certainties to claim the Maitland Cinderella sports story of 2016 after winning the country division two title at the recent John Martin Country Basketball Tournament.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The girls went into the tournament without a win for the season, but after seven games in three days they managed to secure a three-point over-time win against Queanbeyan to claim the Mustangs only title from the tournament.
Georgia Jenkins sunk a two-pointer to put the Mustangs in front and the win was sealed with a goal by Lily Darcy from the free-throw line.
Captain Tahleah Neal said the team was still excited a week after the win and couldn’t believe how well they combined after not winning a game this year in the Country Premier League.
“We were all jumping up and down and hugging each other when the final buzzer went,” Neal said.
The title winning team featured Neal, Darcy, Jenkins, Julia Milburn, Grace Beckmore, Georgia Moore, Josie Wade, Josephine Everett and Meg Jackson.
The Mustangs junior representative teams went close in several divisions with under-18 boys Eastern Junior League (EJL) team losing the division three grand final by one point in overtime.
The under-16 girls EJL team were runners-up in the division three grand-Final to Illawarra and the under-12 girls were runners-up in division two.
Maitland’s under-14 girls Country Premier League (CPL) team and under-12 boys CPL each reached semi-finals in their divisions, while the under-16 boys EJL team and under-14 boys EJL teams reached the quarter-finals.
