SHOALHAVEN’S Scott Balsar has guided his NSW women’s side to the bronze medal at the recent under 20s national championships at Gosford.
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The Balsar coached side open their campaign with a 61-37 win against ACT, before losing by nine points to Queensland.
With the top two sides at the end of the week progressing to the final, it was imperative that Balsar’s side defeated Victoria in their third game.
“We were up by two points with three seconds remaining but our late game execution let us down and Victoria managed to send the game to overtime,” Balsar said.
“Our girls put all their energy in getting the win in regulation and we ran out of legs in the extra period, losing by five.”
This didn’t dampen NSW’s spirit though, as they rebounded with wins against South Australia (87-46), Tasmania (90-49) and Western Australia (84-40).
These wins put them in the bronze medal match against South Australia.
“We knew South Australia wasn’t going to be an easy match-up but the girls were determined to end the week on a high note,” Balsar said.
“Despite South Australia throwing everything they had at us, we weathered the storm and got the win.
“Obviously we had our eyes set on the gold medal but bronze is a great consolation for all the hard work we’ve put it.”
Balsar, who labelled this group as the tightest knit he had coached, recognised Jasmine Simmons, Cassidy McLean, Lara McSpadden and Natalia Beaumont as his team’s standouts.