Canberra Pictorial

It was the Canberra Capitals that put the home crowd in wild cheers, and it was also the Caps uncharacteristic single-digit performance in third quarter that almost silenced the two thousands fans in the AIS Arena. Tension was in the air as the scoring drought kept ticking away for the home side. Bulleen Boomers led the match marginally for a few minutes but the Caps brought it back with the 3-pointers from Jess Bibby and skipper Kellie Abrams leading the Canberra Capitals into the Grand Final in a fortnight.

CANBERRA CAPITALS 60 (Marianna Tolo 14, Abby Bishop 14, Jess Bibby 8, Kellie Abrams 8 ) bt
BULLEEN BOOMERS 52 (Zoe Carr 10, Desiree Glaubitz 9, Elyse Penaluna 8 )

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Australian talents continue to keep those surprises coming on the third and final day of the ACT Track & Field Championship at the AIS Athletics Field. ACT Academy of Sports (ACTAS) hurdler Lauren Boden wins the 400m event with 57.06s following Tristan Thomas‘ sensational A-qualifying performance, making him standing 4th on All-time Aussie list.

AIS sprinter Kurt Mulcahy and ACTAS scholarship holder Melissa Breen continued their superb form, both winning the 200m sprint event. Final event of the meet was men long jump where fierce competition was evident between AIS jumper John Thornell and Victorian Henry Frayne. Frayne produced a 7.99m jump just 1 centimeter shy of Aussie junior record. Thornell’s final round of 7.95 would not match Frayne’s superb effort, but shows that the talented Thornell is back with flying style.

ACT Track & Field Championship concludes with some amazing results and these athletes will compete in the upcoming Sydney Track Classic and the Melbourne Track Classic.

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Perfect condition at the AIS Athletics Field on Day 2 of the ACT Track and Field Championships sets up a few big moments in the lead up to the World Championship in Berlin. Kurt Mulcahy of AIS clocked a B-qualifying time performance and a personal best in the 400m heat. ACT Academy of Sports (ACTAS)’s Jenni Bryce threw a new Australian Record of 7.95m in the seated shot put event.

There was also a heated Discus Throw Seated competition going on between Beijing Paralympians Hamish MacDonald of AIS, Greg Hibberd of ACTAS and unofficially Damien Bowen of ACTAS. Hamish took the lead with 28.20m, following very close results from Hibberd (28.02m) and Bowen (27.95m is it?).

Highlight in the afternoon was also Canberra sprinter Melissa Breen in her 100m sprint final. The time of 11.47 gives her a solid win in the lead up to the Sydney Track Classic where Breen will face Olympic hurdles silver medallist Sally McLellan.

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AIS centre Elizabeth Cambage had left Dandenong Rangers with no answer to her tactic, height, and ability to draw fouls tonight at AIS’s last home game at the AIS Training Hall. Her 27pts penetration in the paint and duo between Dandenong’s Jennifer Benningfield is her highlight of AIS’s 2008/2009 WNBL campaign at home. What a way to send-off the graduating AIS players.

With only two points separating on the score board by Q1 and half-time, you can smell the AIS would not want to let this one go. AIS guards had their speed at hands, forwards were pounding baskets, and with Cambage’s final quarter performance, there is a 6 points lead for the home side with only 2 minutes on the clock.

Into the final seconds, bench became too hot to sit on, AIS players on the sideline were on their feet cheering for every play they witnessed to a glorious second victory this year.

AIS 79 (Elizabeth Cambage 27, Rachel Jarry 14, Kerryn Harrington 8 ) def
Dandenong Rangers 74 (Jennifer Benningfield 30, Alison Downie 13, Caitlin Cunningham 8 )

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One would wonder what is the best thing that could happen to a 15-year-old basketball player. I am sure the Canberra Capitals coach Carrie Graf has got the best present that even Santa can’t deliver. A few minutes of court time in front of cheering home crowd at the AIS Arena, ACT Academy of Sports (ACTAS) basketballer Lauren Jansen sunk a basket and the crowd cheered like the roof was going to go off. This is the best thing that could happen - people showing their enthusiasm for her talent.

Canberra Capitals had no trouble cruising through Logan Thunders with a comfortable win of 76-53 at the AIS Arena. There is only 1 game left before a guaranteed home semi-final match later in February. Scoring from the Capitals were evenly contributed amongst players tonight with 3 Caps scored double-digits.

CANBERRA CAPITALS 76 (Abby Bishop 15, Nat Hurst 11, Marianna Tolo 10) def
LOGAN THUNDER 53 (Bianca Abbott 16, Kristen Veal 11, Sarah Graham 9)

Note: this images was taken with a remote camera mounted on the backboard. Camera shutter was triggered by radio signal throughout the match. Only catch was I forgot to put gobo to eliminate reflection from the glass. Something to think about next time around.

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