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- Braves win under-16 National Junior Classic | Photos, Video
- Six Bendigo Junior Braves picked in Victoria Country squads for Australian Under-16 Junior Championships
- Junior Braves trio score silver medals with Victoria Country at Australian Under-16 National Championships
- Cameron Wilkosz and Tom Thorn to coach Bendigo Braves Big V youth teams
A QUARTET of Bendigo basketballers will be key to Victoria Country’s hopes when the 2018 Under-16 Australian Championships tip-off this Friday.
Piper Dunlop, Meg McCarthy, Dyson Daniels and Dylan McCauley left for the Sunshine Coast today (Wednesday) in readiness for the eight-day tournament, which runs July 6-13.
The girls will open their campaign on Friday in pool B against Western Australia Country, while the boys have a first-up encounter against North Queensland.
The pool stage will run through to next Tuesday, with the finals then beginning on Wednesday, before the bronze and gold medal games are played on July 13.
It is the second straight trip to the under-16 nationals for Dunlop and McCarthy, who were part of Victoria Country’s silver medal-winning line-up in Perth last year.
Dunlop was one of the stars of last year’s tournament, averaging 13.44 points and 9.33 rebounds through nine games.
Fellow top-ager Daniels is also making his second appearance at the nationals, after he averaged 8.88 points, 4.75 rebounds and 1.75 assists last year.
He will be joined by his team-mate from the Bendigo Braves under-16 boys; recent National Junior Classic championship-winning team Dylan McCauley.
McCauley has won a late call-up to the team after initially being named as an emergency in March.
Fellow Braves Tayah Watkins and Macey Eaton were also squad emergencies.
The talented young quartet will be joined in Queensland by Braves Big V youth men’s coach Tom Thorn, who is an assistant coach with the boys team.