Basketball goes on in North

The ADF women take on the US College team at the Marrara basketball stadium in Darwin Photo by CPL Ashley Roach

By Capt Jayne Tauschke

The Australian Defence Basketball Association, sponsored by BAE SYSTEMS, was well represented recently in the Northern Territory with both a Women’s and Men’s team competing in the NT Sports Carnival.

The NT Sport’s Carnival replaced the Arafura Games which were cancelled at short notice due to the SARS virus. Many teams, particularly from Asia, subsequently did not compete.

The NT Sports Carnival consisted of many sports including basketball. The ADF played Northern Territory State Team, an invitational team and a Combined United States College team.

The women’s competition was extremely competitive with the ADF women winning a thrilling opening match against the USA by 1 point scoring the winning points with just a few seconds to go.

ADF also accounted for both NT teams including beating the NT State team twice, the second time in overtime, which produced some exciting basketball.

The Grand Final was between the ADF and the US College Team and was played in front of a large crowd at the new Darwin basketball venue at Marrara.

It was a fantastic game of basketball all the way until the last couple of minutes when the USA pulled away from the ADF team to win 89 to 73. A fantastic effort by the ladies against much taller (and younger) opponents.

The men’s team was decimated by late withdrawals and were no match for a slick US outfit with no team member less than 6ft 4 or over 22 years old.

The NT team were also too good for the ADF men and they played the USA in the final, going down by some 30 points.

Overall it was a fantastic carnival put together at short notice. There was great camaraderie between all the teams and high levels of sportsmanship were displayed.

The ADFBA would like to acknowledge the support of BAE SYSTEMS for this carnival and for their continuous support since 1998.

 

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