THE Queanbeyan Basketball Association was unlucky to miss out on the finals in the male and female Primary Schools Sporting Association basketball tournaments this month, with both sides winning most games in finishing sixth.
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Sole male representative from Queanbeyan Brad Rauter represented the South Coast Marlins in Bathurst at the start of the month, while Zali Andrews, Jasmyn Boutzos and Abby Solway each made a similar trip to Albury last week in representing the female Marlins side.
At just 11 years of age, Queanbeyan West public school student Rauter made his third South Coast representative appearance across three sports this year in Bathurst.
Having already represented South Coast regional teams in swimming and Australian Rules football, Rauter found himself scoring plenty of points up front for the South Coast Marlins in Bathurst as the team won four of six games in their sixth place finish.
Rauter said he felt proud having been the only male representative.
"It made me feel more confident because I've only been playing for eight months," he said.
Rauter's tall height for his age means he is best suited to playing forward in basketball, and despite averaging six points per game, he said his best sport was swimming.
"I've been swimming for longer and got the under 11s South Coast championship," he said.
Along with under 14s representative Andrews and under 12s athletes Boutzos and Solway, Rauter will now turn his attention to the New South Wales Country Championships in Terrigal next weekend representing the under 12s Queanbeyan Roadrunners.
Queanbeyan Basketball Association president Jan Browne said the three girls got better as their tournament went on.
"By the end of the carnival Zali was unbeatable with her drives through the middle," she said.
"Jasmyn and Abby were a guard combination to be reckoned with. They confidently managed the centre court and set up play."