ALL eight Shoalhaven Tigers teams that competed at the weekend's annual John Martin NSW Country Basketball Tournament did the region proud, by producing exceptional performances at venues all across the state.
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On their home court, the Shoalhaven Indoor Sports Centre, the under 18s boys side, coached by Greg Davids, opened their three-day tournament with a 52-43 loss to Illawarra Red.
The Tigers didn't fare any better in games two and three, losing to both Merimbula (44-30) and Batemans Bay (46-35).
But in game four of their division three competition, the Tigers defeated the Central Coast Waves 57-44.
Davids' squad ended their tournament with a 53-28 quarter-final loss to Goulburn.
In the under 16 boys, the Tigers had two sides compete in division three at Maitland, with Mark Alfarno coaching the Shoalhaven One side and Tom Pottanger leading the Twos outfit.
Alfarno's side opened with a tight 47-41 loss to Newcastle Academy Blue before losing to Gilgandra 59-52 later that day.
The Tigers rebounded on Sunday against Newcastle Academy Red 47-26, which was followed by losses to Central Coast Rebels (49-31), Illawarra White (62-51) and the hosts (49-47).
While Pottanger's squad went down in their two opening clashes 56-29 to Newcastle White and 66-39 to Dubbo.
In game three, the Tigers edged Newcastle Academy Orange 41-31, which was followed by back-to-back defeats to Central Coast Waves (39-34) and Illawarra Red (71-31).
They ended their tournament on a high though, with a gutsy 34-30 win over Mudgee.
At Berkeley, Maddie Hanlon's under 16 girls started their division three assault against North Sydney, losing 71-23.
They followed this up with a 39-37 loss to the Central Coast Rebels and 36-36 defeat to Dubbo.
Unfortunately, Hanlon's side didn't register a win all weekend, losing its finals two matches to Illawarra (44-37) and Newcastle White (41-35).
At Newcastle, Luke Royston's Shoalhaven Gold side competed in the under 14 boys division two, with Leighvi Dennison's Black side in division three.
Royston's squad, who recently took out the Southern Junior League title, started with a 55-37 win against Newcastle Green before smashing Dubbo 58-29.
They then lost tight contests to Canberra (36-33) and Illawarra (34-31) before ending with a comprehensive victory over Maitland 76-20.
In division three, the Blacks defeated Mudgee (38-28) first up, which was followed by three straight losses to Newcastle White (32-21), Albury (26-22) and Illawarra White (22-15).
Kelly Doll's under 14 girls side, competing at Niagara Park Stadium, tipped off their division three campaign with a 27-7 win against Queanbeyan.
This was followed by triumphs over Illawarra (36-31) and Central Coast Waves (26-25) before losing a nail-biter to Newcastle White 23-21.
They rebounded to down Norths 26-22, to qualify for the finals.
In their semi-final, they edged Queanbeyan 16-15 to progress to the big dance.
Unfortunately, in the decider, the Tigers' shots wouldn't drop, as they lost 31-27 to Newcastle White.
The final Tigers team to hit the hardwood over the long weekend was Kerry Davids' under 12 girls side, who competed in the development division.
Playing at the Central Coast Grammar School, the young Tigers started with a 17-10 win against Newcastle Academy before losing 41-9 to Canberra.
They bounced back to form against Illawarra White in game three 24-8, which was followed by another big win against Hawks Red 35-6 in their qualifying final.
This saw them progress to the semi-final, where they lost 30-16 to Tumut.
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