Bendigo Braves squads shine with country championship triumphs

Last weekend the Braves division one under-12 girls won a championship at Ballarat after defeating Colac in the grand final by 32 points, final scores 45-13.

Ben Hall, the team's head coach, said the squad continued to improve as a whole in each game they played.

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"They would just get that little bit better on the court during every game," he said.

"What made the grand final win all the more better was defeating Colac who we lost to by only two points during the pool stage."

"It was rewarding for the entire team to then turn it around and defeat them by 32 points in the grand final."

The lead-up preparations for the tournament were slightly shorter than normal, but included the team kicking off training sessions late last year and then playing a handful of tournaments before taking out the championship.

The regional level victory has given the team entry to the upcoming National Junior Classic which includes the best teams from across the state and country for a three day tournament during the Queen's Birthday weekend.

The Braves under-12 boys team was also in action at the tournament and made it through to the semi-final stage before being defeated by seven points to the hands of Warrnambool.

The Braves' under-14 boys also found top level success last month with a title win at the under-14 championships.

The team defeated regional rival Ballarat by 21 points to take out the title at the under-14 Junior Country Championships, final scores 60-39.

Ben Caruana, the team's head coach, said a revamped offensive structure was crucial to securing the championship victory.

"We'd only used this structure once before and as we had played most of the teams in the competition before, including Ballarat, we wanted to show them something different," he said.

"We refined it during the course of the tournament and had it down perfectly in the finals."

What made the win even sweeter was the team had been beaten by Ballarat multiple times earlier this year and to redeem themselves in the championship match was a big tick.

The squad will now head to the under-14 nationals to be held in Sydney in September.

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