The girls were one of three Wagga teams to come home with division two silverware in matches at Wollongong and Shoalhaven, with the under-12 and under-18 boys also successful.

After losing the major semi to Shoalhaven 32-30, the Blaze under-14 girls hit back to account for Illawarra 39-31 in the preliminary final before turning the tables on Shoalhaven in the final 32-26.

Blaze point guard Lauren Treharne was rewarded for a superb game by being named player of the final, Sadie Pankhurst shut down Shoalhaven's key player Kate Speer and centre Sarah Hardy was also a standout.

"It (losing major semi) probably worked well for us in the end, because we played the prelim and had the confidence going into the final," Mel Pankhurst said.

"We just played that really hard, tough basketball in the grand final. They've got quite a dominant player in Kate Speer and we were able to shut her down.

"I'm really happy with them, they kept their cool the entire weekend."

Pankhurst said Wagga Basketball is looking to build the numbers in the younger female divisions.

"I'm really pleased with how the girls divisions are growing and increasing in numbers. The 14s have five teams in the local comp now and we might have more next season, and the 16s are really healthy as well. T

"The area we need to keep developing is the tens and 12s. It's something Basketball Wagga is looking at, having a few potential programs in the pipeline to get girls interested and playing on a regular basis."

IN OTHER NEWS

Meanwhile Wagga's under-12 boys were far too strong for Queanbeyan 43-26 in their final, while the under-18 boys recovered from an early 13-point deficit to account for Moss Vale 80-67.

Leon Flannigan was judged best on court in the under-12s final, while Marc Ong Jnr was the standout in the under-18s.

In other divisions the under-14 boys were beaten 62-56 by Illawarra in their final, the under-16 girls were beaten in overtime 63-62 by Canberra in their preliminary final and the under-16 boys went down to Illawarra 74-55 in the final.

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