THE Southern Highlands under-15s finished 13th at the State Age championships at Charlestown last week. They won 11 and lost 12 games to finish on 22 points, while Bathurst won with 41.

The highlight on the weekend was an upset 16-14 win over Bathurst.

Coach Jill O'Riordan told her team before tip-off "this is going to be a tough game. All I ask of you is to make it as hard as possible for these guys to win. Our aim is to keep their goal average down".

The girls went out and followed their coach's instructions to a tee with the Highlanders taking control of the court. The Highlands' shooters were on fire with Jade Edwards hitting seven from eight attempts and Elle Cox shooting nine from 10.

"It was great - the excitement from the players at the end of the game, not to mention the coach or assistant coach at defeating the number one team," O'Riordan said.

"It is something they will never forget. Bathurst's coach and team members were shaking their heads in disbelief. "There were only two teams who defeated Bathurst all weekend and we were one of them. We had other associations congratulating us and we became the talk of division three.

"It was the last State Age championships for this team of nine enthusiastic players as next year they move up to the older competition, the State championships.

For the full story see the Southern Highland News, Monday, July 14

sport.highlandnews@ruralpress.com