ELLA McFarlane is a 12-year-old starting to stand tall.

The Sacred Heart student has been selected in the NSW PSSA team to compete in the national championship this month after staring for the Mackillop team in the state titles.

Mackillop won the state title with Ella the team's top scorer.

Her success booked her a place in the NSW team which competes in the week-long tournament in Townsville which starts August 17.

Coming up against some of the nation's most promising basketballers may be daunting, but mum Juanita Bailey believes it will a fantastic learning experience.

"This will be awesome experience for her," Bailey said.

"Just being so far away from home, in a different environment."

Ella is part of the Basketball NSW Talented Athletics Program (TAP) and has already created a good relationship with her Townsville teammates.

In a period of non-stop basketball, after the week in Townsville, Ella flies to Gosford for another weekend with program.

"She knows a few of the girls through the programs they have been running through Basketball NSW and it didn't take long to gel," Bailey said.

"She had a three-day training camp in July in Sydney, where we played three games in Sydney so hopefully we will have some success up there."

Although basketball that is her favourite sport, it isn't the only one that she excels at.

Ella was named as the Rick Keast Medallist after being named the best in Sacred Heart's Mortimer Shield league tag win on Tuesday and the trip to Townsville has prevented her from state touch try-outs.

Her busy representative basketball also forced her out of the Wagga representative netball team after it clashed with a basketball camp.

Ella was also part of Wagga's under 14 representative basketball team, who were beaten by Batemans Bay in the Waratahs Junior League southern division grand final last weekend.

Basketball

WAGGA'S talented young basketballers have represented the city with aplomb at the Waratah Junior League southern division finals in the Illawarra.

Wagga's under 16 and 18 girls both won their grand finals, progressing to the next step.

Both teams will head to Minto next weekend for the State Cup, taking on the grand final winners from the other three divisions across the state.

The under 16 girls had a tight win over Albury in the two games last weekend, booking a place in the grand final with a 47-45 semi-final win.

With Albury coming through the preliminary final, the two teams met again in the grand final and in a close contest the game game was sent into overtime.

The Blaze were able to come up with the goods at the end, drawing away for a 71-66 win.

Zoe McFarlane was named as the most valueable player for the team.

The under 18 team had an eight-point win over Goulburn to qualify for the grand final before proving too strong for Illawarra in the grand final.

In a low-scoring affair the Blaze won 30-21 with Claudia Barton named MVP.

Wagga's other three teams didn't enjoy the same success with the under 12 and 16 boys and the under 14 girls teams going down in the semi-finals.

Each had a second chance in the preliminary final and fought valiantly to earn a place in the grand final.

However neither could cause an upset and were beaten in the decider.

Waratah Junior League southern division finals

Semi-finals

Under 12 boys - Canberra Gold 71 d Wagga 45

Under 14 girls - Batemans Bay 53 d Wagga 39

Under 16 boys - Illawarra 62 d Wagga 43

Under 16 girls - Wagga 47 d Albury 45

Under 18 girls - Wagga Blaze 43 d Goulburn 35

Preliminary finals

Under 12 boys – Wagga 68 d Goulburn 30

Under 14 girls – Wagga 55 d Albury 54

Under 16 boys – Wagga 57 d Queanbeyan 38

Grand finals

Under 12 boys – Canberra Gold 72 d Wagga 50

Under 14 girls – Batemans Bay 54 d Wagga 48

Under 16 boys – Illawarra 59 d Wagga 20

Under 16 girls - Wagga 71 d Albury 66

Under 18 girls - Wagga 30 d Illawarra 21