Nine Warrnambool youngsters set for frenzy of basketball

Cigi Lual, Sarah Perry, Meg Carlin, Mia Mills, Georgia Gilmour, Emily Saffin, Paiyton Noonan, Matilda Sewell and Olivia Wolter will form part of the surging Warrnambool Mermaids' Country Basketball League semi-final side on Saturday night, and will play with the under 18s side at the Warrnambool Junior Seaside Basketball Classic across the weekend too.

The Mermaids have been the benchmark side of the Country Basketball League season, finishing top-of-the-table, and face Horsham Hornets on their home court at 6.30pm.

Mills - one of the talented basketballers set to play a huge part acrossr the weekend - told The Standard it was an exciting opportunity to play their best basketball after navigating plenty of obstacles.

MORE SPORT:

"We're all pretty keen, over the last few weeks we've had some outs with COVID and it's been really difficult," she said.

"It's going to be good to finally get a full team back together.

"Having such a big training squad, everyone's chipped in this year, and we wouldn't have done it without a big squad.

"Everyone has got some opportunity, which will be good for us on Saturday night."

With semi-final duties, alongside her under 18 matches in what will be a carnival of basketball this weekend, Mills hoped there would be plenty of support from the home crowd across both tournaments.

"It's really cool, to be able to play our home tournament and a CBL semi-final in front of our home crowd will be really special," she said.

"We hope we do get a big turnout from the junior tournaments to help cheer us over the line.

"I'm looking forward to it, and getting in a few games before Horsham on Saturday night is important. We'll all be switched on and ready to go."

The talented basketballer is working hard on her game, mixing netball and basketball as she looks to take her sport to the next level.

"I try to train around six to eight times a week, especially trying to get in the netball pre-season too," she said.

"I'm working on my pick-and-roll game at the moment, so it's coming along nicely."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard: