A number of Keilor Thunder’s rising stars have been named in the Victorian under-18 teams for the national basketball championships in April.
Basketball Victoria announced metro and country sides for both the under-18s, while they also named the Kevin Coombs Cup for wheelchair athletes.
In the under-18 country women’s side, Jelena Savic has been selected in the squad.
Savic has come through the junior ranks at the Thunder.
Thunder’s Sa Pilimai, who is originally for Melton, and Woodend’s Cooper Duff-Tytler were both named in the under-18 Vic Country side.
Duff-Tytler captained Vic Country at the under-16 Australian Junior Basketball Championships last year.
He averaged 12 points and six and half rebounds per game.
Keilor’s Erinn McAlary was named as an emergency as the under-18 Victoria metro side. McAlary joined the Thunder in recent years from Knox.
High performance general manager Grant Wallace said the regular calendar of play and preparation plus recent stellar performances at the East Coast Challenge and Country Cup has determined a high calibre group of athletes to be selected from.
“After an extensive process and a jam-packed start to the high-performance program in 2023 – it’s a good problem to have so many athletes pushing each other and being supportive during the recent tournaments,” he said.
“You could see the sense of urgency and passion from the players, and it was an extremely difficult task to finalise the teams.”
“Our biggest strength is our culture, and we have seen the success of our high-performance hubs as part of our state development program that has helped drive the standards and competitiveness to a new level.”
