Tara Murray
Wyndham’s local talent will be on showcase this week as Wyoming University comes to town.
The club’s Big V women’s state championship side will face the American college in an exhibition game on Thursday night.
Having already had their men’s team play the Indonesian national team, Wyndham women’s coach Gerard Hillier said it was a good opportunity for the women’s side.
“It’s awesome on the back of the Indonesian game,” he said. “It’s something for the women’s program.
“It’s really exciting for the juniors to come along and aspire to something.”
Hillier said the match came about after the tour organiser approached the club to see whether they were interested in being involved.
He said the success they’ve had this season had played a role in getting the opportunity.
“We’re the top ranked team in the Big V,” he said. “I think that it’s good recognition for what we are doing.
“We’ve planned to get a lot of young local players in the team and that is where our success is coming from.”
With several of their younger players having eyes on playing in America at college in the future, it’s an opportunity to see what it is about.
A couple of the younger players already have scholarships signed.
The club’s state championship side will play in the match, with a couple of their youth league girls also stepping up.
Hillier said they would look to rotate the players through. They will be back in action two days ladder in the first week of the Big V finals.
“We want to give everyone an opportunity to be seen at the next level,” he said.
“The girls are happy to not be training and playing another match. For the girls it’s important to have a game like this in front of a big crowd.
“For us it will be a good experience, a couple of days out from the real deal.”
On Saturday, the state championship side warmed up for finals with an 109-59 win against the Chelsea Gulls.
For the first three quarters, Wyndham put in dominant display as they got out to nearly a 50 point lead.
The last quarter was a lot closer, but it didn’t matter with Wyndham having already locked away the game.
Wyndham shared the minutes and the points around, with Tanielle Knight top scored with 31 points.
All nine players who took to the court, hit the scoreboard.
The men’s side will go into finals on the back of a massive win against the Chelsea Gulls in the state championship competition.
Wyndham jumped out of the blocks and led by 22 points at the first change.
That was reduced to 12 points at half time. Wyndham got back into gear the second half to run away with an 129-86 win.
Maurice Howard top scored with 28 points as three players scored more than 20 points.
Wyndham finished the regular season in second spot.
