On Monday 15 November, Wilderness competed in the annual Harry Long Invitational Basketball Tournament hosted by St Peter’s College. This event is targeted to Primary-Middle School students from Years 5-7.

The tournament is named after the former long-serving educator and Principal of Mannum Primary School, Mr Harry Long. The tournament originated in Mannum in 1992 and is a very enjoyable collegiate event that students love to participate in each year as the standard of play is high, and matches are played in good spirits.

Wilderness has competed for eight years straight and was delighted to be invited again this year following the cancellation of the tournament in 2020.

A maximum of six teams contests a series of 15-minute round-robin matches to determine the playoffs, with the grand final played over 20 minutes.

Wilderness featured a strong line-up with players selected following our Junior School and IGSSA Basketball seasons. The team comprised of Caitlin Hardin (Year 7), Latisha Kennedy (Year 7), Isabelle Weng (Year 7), Jasmine Brett (Year 6), Sophie Cardone (Year 6), Maya Iannella (Year 5), Matilda Kennedy (Year 5) and Sharon Zhai (Year 5). They were fortunate to be coached by our Senior A Basketball coach and Junior School teacher, Ms Kate Gladstone.

The girls performed well in the opening rounds, only dropping a game in a close 1-point tussle with Westminster School. The grand final was a nail-biting match between Westminster and Wilderness.

Westminster opened the scoring with a successful 3 point attempt, and it wasn’t long before Wilderness responded and took the first half 8 points to 3.

In the final minutes, there was only 1 point between the teams but the Wilderness girls made a phenomenal defensive effort and held on to secure a 12-9 win to take out the 2021 Harry Long Tournament.

A big congratulations to all our girls and their coach!

To top the day off, Caitlin Hardin was named M.V.P. of the tournament and is only the second Wilderness girl to have ever won this award.

It is exciting to see the standard of basketball players moving into the Middle School teams for 2022.