Maddy White: title triumph.
WARRNAMBOOL export Maddy White and Portland’s Ebony Rolph teamed up to win gold at the inaugural Australian under 18 3x3 championships in Sydney on Saturday.
The pair were teammates at Warrnambool Mermaids and now play for Geelong Supercats while studying at Geelong.
White, 18, is on the Supercats’ South-East Australian Basketball League roster and Rolph, 17, represents their youth side.
The forwards played for Vic Country at the three-day national 3x3 competition.
Vic Country defeated Vic Metro in the grand final, 13-12.
It finished third after the preliminary rounds, having won eight of its 10 games, and was too strong for Queensland in the semi-final, winning 16-11.
White had represented Vic Country at national level four times previously without success.
“The highest I’d ever come at nationals was fourth,” she said.
“I keep smiling to myself when I see the medal.
“It was a really good way to finish my Vic Country career.
“We lost two games on the first day to Vic Metro and South Australia Metro.
“It was a very bad game for us against South Australia, but that’s not an excuse.
“We came back fighting the next day.”
White said she made her 3x3 debut at nationals, with a niggling knee injury preventing her from training in the lead-up.
Hannah Hifat from Bendigo and Racheal Antoniadou from Warragul alternated to fill the third spot in the side under the direction of coach Nat Weston.
In 3x3 basketball, games are played in one half of the court.
Points inside the arc are worth one point, while shots outside the three-point line are worth two points.
“The half-court game is so much faster,” White said.
“It’s go, go, go. You don’t get time to think.
“You can’t run plays as you only have 14 seconds to get a score.”
White and Rolph now live in Geelong. Both are in year 12, with White at Geelong College and Rolph at Belmont High School.
