A SEASON without loss meant nothing for the Hawkesbury Jets under-16s girls team when it came to the grand final on the weekend against Glebe Spirit.
The team went down 80-77 in its only loss in the entire season.
It was a heartbreaking end to the season for the girls, who were rightfully gutted.
Hawkesbury and Districts Basketball Association president Peter Herrmann said the girls were unable to find the rhythm they had played with all season.
‘‘It was a close result in the end and we led for a fair bit of the match,’’ he said.
‘‘All the girls gave 100 per cent. They all contributed and we didn’t really have a bad player.
‘‘We weren’t allowed to get into the rhythm we normally had and we struggled to score the number of points that we normally would.’’
Mr Herrmann said while a number of girls had good games, the fact none stood head and shoulders above the others was typical of the team they were.
‘‘Right from the beginning it was fairly obvious that we had a special group,’’ he said.
‘‘At the beginning of the season we didn’t have any standout players but we had a group of players who were playing for each other.
‘‘It was a team not a bunch of individuals. Their coach Peter Lewis put a lot of emphasis on that. He wanted the situation that no matter who was on the court they would play the same way.’’
Mr Herrmann said the difference in the game came when Glebe managed to take advantage of a few critical moments, whereas the Hawkesbury girls could not.
‘‘Glebe to their credit did step up and made some critical shots and there were times where we missed a couple of shots,’’ he said.
Mr Herrmann said the girls were devastated by the loss, but now had their sights firmly set on the State Shield in three weeks’ time.
