By JARROD POTTER
THEY asked their coach if they would get an article in the newspaper after achieving the same lofty feat as their junior Casey Cavaliers’ counterparts.
After getting through an arduous knockout competition to make the Victorian Championship (VC) grade, it’s safe to say we believe the Cavaliers’ girls have earned this publication’s recognition.
The Casey Cavaliers under-20 girls’ junior basketball team – coached by Tim Hewitt – earned the right to play in the Victorian Junior Basketball League’s (VJBL) highest ranked division in 2015.
Hewitt was thrilled to see his girls charge through the elimination phase – earning their VC berth after a pair of hard-fought victories over Western Port and Keysborough.
“Stoked – we set those goals at the start of the year and to get it was fantastic,” Hewitt said.
“We finished third in the pool and were put into the knock-out stage where we beat Western Port.
Then against Keysborough we played really well that night – defence was awesome, we hit our shots, everything clicked and we got in.
“First time I’ve gotten in to VC, so it’s good to be back at the top.”
Hewitt said the likes of Big V development player Christin Daly, Tara Burno and bottom-agers Sarah Thomson, Demi-Lee Devlin and Susan Shaw were some of Casey’s best to look out for in the Cavaliers’ winter campaign.
While the inaugural year in any new division can be hard to judge from the outset, Hewitt hopes his Cavaliers can push through to the middle section of the table and potentially have a good crack at finals.
“If we can make playoffs I’d be happy, but realistically we’ll sit in the middle of the field,” Hewitt said.
“It will be a case of getting that fourth-fifth through to seventh and I’d consider that a successful season.”
The under-20 girls are the third Cavaliers team to make the VC grade alongside Casey’s Under-14 boys and the Under-12 1 boys.