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The Under 20 & Ivor Burge Championships kicked off yesterday at Kalamunda with the WA Under 20 Women getting off to a solid start.

Taking on South Australia before the Opening Ceremony, the women got off to a strong start, leading 18-9 at quarter time. A Jessie Clayton score early in the fourth got the lead out to 11, however that would be the largest margin of the match.

At the main break the WA women led 33-27 but the SA team kept on pushing and hit the lead with just over a minute to go before the last break, taking a 48-49 lead in to three quarter time.

Hannah Throns (Stirling) and Ashlee Sidebottom (Mandurah) combined for 12 points in the fourth quarter to lead the home side to a 68-62 victory.

WA was led by Kalamunda’s own Jessie Edwards, who finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds . Edwards was reliable from the free-throw line shooting 9-12 in a game that saw both teams miss a combined 37 free-throws.

Also leading the scoring was AJ Stewart (14), Ashlee Sidebottom (11) and Hannah Throns (11).

Shayde Quintrell was the standout for SA finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds, including 11 points in the fourth quarter.

The Men were not so lucky in their game against SA, letting a poor first term come back to haunt them. SA raced out to a 33-14 lead to stun the home crowd, the home side fought back in the second term with a 25-15 quarter of their own.

With a nine point deficit at half time, the WA side worked hard in the third, getting the margin to as little as three points, however ultimately went into the last break down 63-71.

Two quick shots from Sean Broderick and a three-point play from Mitch Keller got the home side to within one point with just under 8 minutes to play. The comeback wasn’t to be though, with SA taking the game 87-97.

The Ivor Burge Women hit the court for Western Australia for their first outing in recent years, taking on NSW Metro. Unfortunately the WA side started slowly with a 40-0 quarter seeing NSW Metro with a comfortable lead.

The WA ladies improved each period, putting four points on the board in the second period, eight in the third and ten points in the final period. They also restricted NSW Metro to just 47 points for the last three periods combined.

Kellee Thomas was the leading scorer for WA with 8 points, also pulling down 10 rebounds.

For NSW Metro, Lisa Mackie had 22 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds, while Nicole Harris had 20 points and 17 rebounds and Dianne Domello had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The WA Men put on a great show for the home crowd, however went down in a close game to NSW Country, 60-64.

The WA Men were down by just two at quarter time, however NSW Country managed to stretch their lead to seven by half time.

WA cut the lead to six at 3/4 time and just like the Under 20 Men they managed to cut the lead to as little as one point in the fourth period, however NSW Country held on to take the win.

David Rulyancich was in outstanding form with 18 points, 20 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. Also leading the way for WA was Geoff Stewart who had 16 points.

For NSW Country Dean Pallier had 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Thomas Preston was also strong with 19 points and 18 rebounds.

All four teams are back in action on Monday starting with the Ivor Burge Men who take on ACT at 9:00am. The Ivor Burge Women face another tough team in Vic Metro at 1:30pm. In the Under 20 competition the Men are up against ACT at 5pm and the Women take on New Zealand at 7pm.

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

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