Basketball
14 October, 2025
Junior Hornets shine in Hamilton
The Horsham Hornets’ junior representative teams kicked off the basketball season at the Hamilton Junior Basketball Tournament over the weekend.
Fourteen Horsham teams across under 12s, under 14s, under 16s, and under 18s went against Colac, Hamilton, Portland, Port Fairy and Warrnambool in the two days of action.
Horsham’s division one and two under 14 boys, division two under 14 girls and division one under 12 girls teams all made the tournament grand finals, with each team falling short at the final stage.
Matt Lovel, Horsham Basketball coaching director, was pleased with how the teams performed, acknowledging that it will allow teams to improve as the season progresses.
“The Hamilton tournament is really good in terms of seeing where we're at and gives us things to work on,” Lovel said.
“We're not necessarily all about the wins at this tournament, which they're fantastic to have, but it gives you a good guide to where you've got to go for training and that.
“All in all, it was a good tournament, and I was really happy with how all the teams performed.”
Arguably the standout team from the weekend, the under-14 boys division one side trailed Hamilton by just one point at halftime in their grand final before losing 43-33.
Tex Askew scored a team-high 13 points in the decider, leading the division in points across the weekend, finishing with 74 points across five games.
Numerous Horsham players were amongst the top scorers in the tournament, including under 16 boys’ Charlie Hobbs, who scored 62 points over four games; Hannah Plazzer (under 18 girls) scored 46 points across five games, Jasper Beddison (under 18 boys) had 41 points in four games, and Sophie Pickering (under 12 girls) scored 40 points in five games.
