Keely Berry, Indy Rogers and Billy McRae do region proud with solid performances at national championships

Three Great Southern basketball talents represented WA on the big stage at the Australian National Championships in Perth last week. Keely Berry and Indy Rogers both competed in the WA under-16 country girls’ side and Billy McRae was part of the under-16 country boys’ team. The WA boys’ side were defeated in their qualifying matches against NSW Metro, Queensland North, South Australia Metro, Victoria Metro and Tasmania, but rallied with three wins in the playoff rounds. A crushing 106-58 win over Northern Territory was backed up by a thrilling 97-94 triumph over Queensland South. The WA Country boys’ team finished ninth out of 13 teams after defeating Tasmania 86-74 in their final game of the tournament. McRae finished as the competition’s fourth highest scorer with an average of 19.88 points per game, as well as recording the second highest free throw percentage across their eight games (87.1 per cent). The 15-year-old posted 20 points, nine assists and five rebounds in their clash against Tasmania. The WA Country girls’ side also finished strong after a winless start in their five round-robin games. A 70-41 win over Northern Territory was their first victory before a 39-70 loss to NSW Country rounded out their campaign, finishing 12th overall. Berry finished with eight points, three rebounds and two blocks in the comfortable win over NT, while Rogers notched six assists, four rebounds and two steals. Across the tournament Berry averaged 7.88 points per game and 7.38 rebounds per game. Rogers averaged 2.5 points per game. Perth Wildcat great and former Great Southern coach Paul Rogers was assistant coach of the WA Country boys’ side. Albany-raised basketballer Matt Leary was the campaign coach for the WA Country boys. SA Metro edged out Vic Metro in the girls’ grand final to claim gold, while Vic Metro claimed the boys’ gold medal with a 112-106 win over SA Country.