Karratha in grand finals

Two Karratha teams made the grand finals at last weekend’s Country Week Basketball Championships.

The Pilbara News travelled to Perth with the five Karratha teams which made them the largest participating association.

In the final, the women’s division one team were chasing their fourth consecutive victory of the tournament against Mandurah.

After a sluggish start to the competition, the men’s division one team gained momentum, securing a place in the third consecutive Karratha-Albany grand final.

Men’s Division one coach Simon Kot said it was great to see this new combination come together as the tournament progressed.

“Hopefully, we can break the streak and take a finals victory,” he said.

The Karratha men’s veterans started the competition strongly, winning their first two games, but just missed out on a place in the grand final after being defeated by Geraldton.

Kot, who was also captain of the veterans’ team, said this was their best performance at country week.

“We lost to some great teams that are made up of ex state and national basketball league players so we can’t be too disappointed,” he said.

Unfortunately, the women’s second and fifth divisions had a less successful tournament.

he division two team only won one game, while the division five team managed a draw, which was their best result.

Women’s division five captain Sharyn Sturzaker said while they didn’t have a lot of success on the court, they had a great time both on and off the court.

Karratha Basketball Association president Darren Berry was pleased with the overall performance and said it was great to see such a small association do so well.

At the time of print the grand finals were just getting under way.

See next week’s issue for all the results.