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Day Five of the Under 20 & Ivor Burge Championships saw our Men return to the court in the Under 20 competition while the Women had a day off before their semi-final clash and the Ivor Burge teams rounded out their pool play.

Our Ivor Burge Women hit the court at 11:00am after their first win of the tournament yesterday, taking on NSW Country.

NSW Country started the game well, taking a 29-8 lead into the first break, and by halftime they had a 42 point lead.

The home side fought hard, however NSW Country showed their solid form running out 107-20 victors.

Leading the charge for the home side was Anne-Marie Foster with 6 points and 7 rebounds, while Natasha Davis (12 rebounds) and Verity Barrow (11 rebounds) worked hard on the boards.

Shelby O’Neale led the scoring for NSW with 28 points, also finishing with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. O’Neale was supported by Eliza Mills (27 points, 7 rebounds & 8 assists) and Jessica Duncan (21 points, 15 rebounds).

The Ivor Burge men hit the court at 3:00pm searching for their first win, up against Tasmania.

Despite putting up their highest score of the tournament (74 points) they weren’t able to get the job done defensively, allowing Tasmania to score 106.

David Rulyancich was again the top scorer with 25 points while also pulling down 22 rebounds. Nathan Ball and Kenneth Opoku worked hard in the paint with 10 and 15 rebounds respectively.

Dylan Pace got the job done for Tasmania, finishing with an outstanding 38 points and 13 rebounds. Bruce Stanley was also strong in support with 22 rebounds and 21 points.

The Under 20 Men faced Victoria in their quarter finals game at 5:00pm and fought hard all game despite Victoria being undefeated.

The home side went in to the halftime break down by only 13 points after a slow start in the first quarter, however that margin was enough for Victoria to come out on top 76-51.

Rhys Vague led the scoring for WA with 14 points to go with 7 rebounds while Brendan Dinardo worked hard for his  points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in 22 minutes.

Geremy McKay did the damage for Victoria with 20 points and 11 rebounds, supporting him was Jack Purchase (14 points) and Matthew Jackson (10 points).

Friday will see all four teams in action with the Ivor Burge starting their finals play. The Women will face South Australia at 3:30pm in a rematch of their first win. The Men take on NSW Country at 1:30pm looking for their first victory of the tournament.

In the Under 20 games the WA Men will take on New Zealand at 11:30am, while the Women will play their Semi-Final game against NSW at 3:00pm.

You can follow the Live Stats and all of the Fixtures/Results at nationals.basketball.net.au.

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