The Illawarra under 16 girls basketball had faced Albury four times over the past three months. On all four occasions it was Albury who came away with the victory.
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In fact, Albury had come away with the win in every match they played throughout the Southern Junior League this season.
That is, until they faced the Hawks for a fifth time on Sunday morning.
This time, it was Illawarra who reigned supreme, the girls running away with a 66-51 victory over their previously unbeaten rivals.
The win came just a day after Albury had defeated Illawarra 73-57 in the major semi-final, with the Hawks forced to overcome the Canberra Capitals White 58-54 in a preliminary final on Saturday night to set up a rematch.
For Illawarra coach Shelley Bates, it was those challenges on Saturday that allowed her side to finally defeat Albury.
"The girls were all really excited," Bates said. "That Albury team was undefeated, so for us to come through and get the victory after losing to them on Saturday, was an excellent team performance. The whole team came together and delivered at both ends.
"It may sound weird, but I was happy when we lost the semi-final. We wanted to win, but it meant they weren't too confident going into the final. I told the girls after the semi that we would get them and we did.
"We had a physical game Saturday afternoon which helped us and I'm proud of how the girls pushed through the adversity."
Read more: Good times coming for Hawks: Stratford
The grand final victory came on a successful weekend for the Illawarra's junior basketball teams, with 14 sides featuring in the finals weekend.
The Under 16 boys championship side and under 18 girls championship sides both came away with victories, while the Under 16 boys division one and division two teams also claimed grand final wins.
The winning teams will now compete in the Country Championship League, where they will face some of the state's top country teams in a bid to qualify for the NSW Championships.
Bates recognises her girls will face an even bigger test in the CCL, but she's confident the team will continue to grow throughout the next few months.
"Now we go into the CCL, our goal is to then qualify for the state championships. We'll be facing some tough teams, but we're hoping we can push through and keep playing right up to state championships.
"We have plenty of areas we can improve, there's a lot of learning still to be done, a few of the girls are still new to the sport. We've been focusing on defence, so we'll try create some more options on offence."
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