Dubbo Rams under 16s girls will play in the Junior Premier League after finishing second at the Central Coast Classic

Dubbo Rams under 16s girls returned from the Central Coast Classic with smiles on their faces even after finishing second, due to the fact they achieved their goal last weekend.

The group have become the first team from the city in several years to qualify for the Junior Premier League (JPL), a competition which consists of the best eight sides in NSW.

Coached by Tye Forrester who has been assisted by Adam Winterton, the group overcame a slow start against North Sydney, losing their first match of the weekend by 10 points.

"It was good, it was probably a real warm-up game (against North Sydney), we didn't play very well in that one," Forrester said.

"Queanbeyan was a game that we had to win to make the qualify through to the Premier League which we played a lot better in to win convincingly."

READ ALSO:

After a tough loss in their weekend opener, Dubbo hit back with a quality win over Queanbeyan by 30 points before going on to also record victories against Coffs Harbour and Central Coast respectively.

For Forrester, he felt the 62-53 win over Coffs Harbour was a real testament to how well the group can play.

"Coffs was a really good win for the girls over what was a really quality side, who were also at the same competition to qualify for the Premier League," he said.

Having qualified for the Central Coast Classic final against North Sydney, the match was tied as the full buzzer went, forcing an overtime period.

Unfortunately, North Sydney began to make some tough shots during the extra three minute-period, eventually winning by four points.

"We were a bit unlucky when we went into the overtime, they hit a few good shots which is part of the game," Forrester said.

"That gave them the edge in the three minutes of overtime."

However, the top two teams from the tournament qualified for the JPL, meaning Dubbo had advanced, something Forrester said was important for the squad.

"We achieved what we wanted to for the weekend which was to beat all the Country sides and qualify for the Premier League," he said.

"So in that sense, we achieved what we wanted at a warmup competition before the higher stuff comes later in the season."

Players like Tully Pickering, Millie Sutcliffe and Kiara McKeown are just some of the highly talented individuals in the side.

But for Forrester, he was more impressed with how well the players came together as a team.

"The whole lot of them in their own rights are extremely strong, we are a team that has try-outs and whoever turns up makes it," he said.

"We go down and compete with teams like North Sydney who can get 100 kids to a try-out."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: