Representative basketball is nearly over for season 2018, but Orange Eagles have one last hurrah up their sleeve, with the under-12 girls travelling to the State Cup in Sydney this weekend.
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The cup is a precursor to the Country Champions League, which finished last weekend, and seven Eagles will take flight for the tournament under the leadership of Baden Annis-Brown.
The seven girls are a talented bunch, too – most having already played together for three years in the domestic Orange competition and have experience travelling on the road.
What’s more, five of them have been selected for to head to the Jambaree in Tamworth later this year, where 80 of the best young basketballers for each age group head away to take part in a camp which sets them into sides to put them through training and games.
Annis-Brown said the side attended the State Cup last year and had a “difficult” run, with a few players injured and away.
However, this year he was hoping the girls could match it with the metropolitan teams and come away with a few wins.
“If they could get something to gauge themselves against that would be good,” he said.
“It’ll be hard though, we finished the representative season one or two months ago and the metro sides finished last week, so they haven’t had the same break we have.”
Annis-Brown said he enjoyed coaching the girls.
“They’re a good bunch of girls, they get along with each other really well and pay a lot of attention,” he said.
“They love travelling to play, too, they hate playing at home and would rather go away and stay together and have fun.”
The State Cup kicks off on Saturday.