Australian Gems win U18 FIBA Asian Championship

By NBL Media

The Australian Gems have claimed the U18 FIBA Women’s Asain Championship against China. 

Coached under David Herbert, formerly the NBL1 South Ballarat Miners Women’s head coach and now the coach of the Women’s Program at the Centre of Excellence. Hebert led a team of NBL1 stars to Australia’s first-ever championship in the competition. 

Read the game report here. 

CoE superstar Isla Juffermans was named MVP of the tournament, She was only one of two players to average a double-double throughout the tournament with an average of 17 points and 11 rebounds per game. 

JUNIORS | Isla Juffermans was named MVP of the 2022 FIBA U18 Championships while Isobel Borlase joined her in the All Star Five! ????

Juffermans: 17.0 PTS | 11.0 REB | 66.1% FG
Borlase: 14.4 PTS | 7.6 REB | 4.4 AST | 2.8 STL#AussieHoops #GoGems #FIBAU18Asia pic.twitter.com/KWJ7TK7odQ

— The Pick and Roll ??? (@PickandRollAU) September 11, 2022

Isobel Borlase alongside Juffermans was named in the All-Star Five. She had an outstanding second half of the season in the NBL1 Wildcard season, singlehandedly beating the NBL1 West Grand Finals runners-up the Willetton Tigers in their Wildcard match-up.

Isobel Borlase had a quarter ?

1??1?? points and 2?? steals in the final term to get CoE the win ? pic.twitter.com/5J0UpieCeH

— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 28, 2022

She was in the top five amongst all players in scoring (14.4 points per game), assists (4.4 assists per game), and steals (2.8 steals per game).

Nine of the 12 players selected were a part of the Centre of Excellence program, while the remaining three all played for NBL1 teams this season. 

Tess Heal was a superstar for the Melbourne Tigers averaging 21 points per game and seven rebounds before starting her collegiate career at Santa Clara. While Sophie Burrows and Rose Nelson suited up for the Diamond Valley Eagles and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles respectively. 

To see the full roster click here. 

Feature image via: Basketball Australia