It was with excitement that the U14-3 girls set of for their first taste of the Adelaide Classic tournament on the Thursday.

With our first game on Friday afternoon against Blackburn 2 we were a bit slow out of the blocks, not sure if this was down to to much swimming!!

Anyway we worked our way back into the game and ran over the top of them with a 37-28 win to start of on a very positive note.

 

Game 2 on Saturday was against the unknown talent of Port Fairy who the day prior had demolished Norwood 3.

The girls were all fired up and came out running and although tight early out ran and out played them for a 44-18 win.

Brittany went down with a finger injury and it was decided not to risk her for the following game.

 

Game 3 on Saturday was against Camberwell 2 and without Brittany Steph stepped up to play point.

It must have been bad luck to play point as Steph also went down with a nasty fall and we were left with the other team members to shoulder the load.

Elise, Rebecca ans Ellen did a great job covering point to get us over the line for a scrappy win 27-21.

 

Game 4 on Saturday night, the third for the day was against the unbeaten Melbourne.

It was decided to rest Steph and not show our hand as it was likely we would play them in the grand final.

While we went down 48-23 the girls gave their all and were tired after 3 games for the day.

 

Game 5 on Sunday saw us take on Norwood 3 who had struggled through the tournament.

We used this to hone our plays and work hard on transition for the grand final.

We won 78-12 with all players scoring and playing in different positions.

 

Game 6 on Sunday night saw us into the Grand Final and taking on the unbeaten Melbourne team.

We decided to go all out and run all our plays and work hard in defence along with reducing the effect of their key play maker Lily Brancatisano.

Melbourne jumped out to a early lead but we kept to our game plan and worked hard to pull the lead back to 10 at 1/2 time.

We knew if we kept to our structure and plan we would wear them down and reduced the lead to 8 points at 3/4 time.

We closed the gap to 2 points when Brittany went down with a wrist injury and it went back out to 6 points.

When Lily Brancatisano fouled out with a minute and half to go the girls gritted their teeth and clawed there way to 6 points then 4 points with 8 seconds to go and scored again to bring it back to 2 point with 6 seconds to go.

The crowd was erupting as Melbourne was panicking due to the pressuring being applied by the girls but they managed to hold on in the last 6 seconds for a 28-26 win.

A huge effort from all the girls Lauren, Lou, Ashley, Ellen. Steph, Rebecca, Elise and Brittany. 

 

Overall this was a first time experience for all the players, coach and parents in the Adelaide Classic and a everlasting one.

We all had a wonderful time with all players bonding and becoming closer friends.

We would all highly recommend this trip to any team and will be going again next year.

 

We believe we have come back a far better and closer team from the experience.