Written and provided by Basketball ACT, hosts of the 2014 Australian Schools Championships

With the pool placings all but decided now in the championship divisions, we have a much clearer idea of who the contenders will be.

The women managed to steal game of the day honours in the afternoon match between Westfields Sports High and Hellyer College. With both teams winless and desperately trying to climb off the bottom of the ladder, it was Hellyer who managed to squeeze out a tight victory. Mariah Payne took out stat line of the day with her versatile 28 points, 9 rebounds and 9 steals.

Rowville continue to breeze through pool 2 and seem destined to face off with Monte Sant’ Angelo who managed to stay undefeated in pool 1 by getting by stern tests from Willetton and Palm Beach Currumbin and will no doubt benefit from the close games come playoff time.

The men also saw some fantastic matchups, none better than the final game of the evening between St James College and St Augustine’s. The two teams traded punches throughout with St James pulling within 1 in the final quarter. St Augustine’s captain Daniel Pitcher was inspirational in a full 40-minute effort however game MVP would certainly go to Jonathon Marsh and his 18 point and 22 rebound double double.

Sacred Heart managed to open their win account by upsetting previously unbeaten St Francis Xavier College behind the scorching shooting of young guard Isaac White who managed 39 points on just 23 shots from the floor.

Sydney Boys managed to jump Willetton in the first half before hanging on to the lead to claim outright first of pool B. Defending champions Lake Ginninderra still didn’t manage to get a win despite being competitive against tournament favourites in the morning.

In the Under 17 girls division 1, local girls Canberra Girls Grammar went down to Siena despite the combination of Rosemary Schweizer and Alana Dalgleish who are averaging 41 combined points per game for the tournament.

Westfields Sports and Tenison Woods remain unbeaten in the U20 senior men div 1 competition, and both teams will look to win their Wednesday games ahead of the showdown on Thursday morning.

Most impressive for the entire day though had to be Macquarie College’s Jonah Armstrong who scored 46 in the morning against Daramalan before backing it up in the afternoon with 36 against Kanahooka High. His scoring average of 33.67 is a tournament high.