ABA 2024-25: Albany Raiders to send 15 teams to 2024 Basketball WA State Championships in Perth this weekend

Everything is on the line as 15 Albany Raiders teams make the long trip to Perth this weekend for the 2024 Basketball WA State Championships.

The Raiders will vie for State supremacy with two under-11 teams, four U13, four U15, three U17 teams, an U19 and U20 side at the tournament held at Bendat Basketball Centre this weekend.

The competition draws teams from all over WA.

Raiders girls U17s star Ava Marmion believed her side boasts the perfect mix of talent to clinch the division two title.

“In previous years, States hasn’t been the strongest for us but this year, we want to try and take out the win,” she said.

“There’s definitely a group of girls in this team that played together for a long time. . . so going up, it should be interesting to see how we all come together.”

The Raiders have been brilliant through the opening nine rounds of the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade season with five wins three losses and a draw.

Marmion said her side will draw on those successes when they grapple with the State’s best, starting on Saturday.

“When we’re playing well down here, that is championship-winning form so we’re trying to take how we’re playing on the court down here up to Perth,” she said.

“This series we really want to see how this team flows and how we can all work together.”

Raiders boys U17s gun shooter Natale Trichilo said squad diversity will help his side chase a division two premiership.

“We’ve been putting in the effort at training so we’re just priming for a good State champs.

“I think we bring a lot of diversity in how our team is formed,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of different guys who can shoot, who can rebound and pass the ball.

“We also work really well as a team given that we play so often together.

“(Early wins) are very important because it’s hard to climb out of holes later in the tournament.”