FOUR of Coffs Harbour’s best junior basketballers have taken on the country’s finest.

Charlotte Cougle, Kira Juffermans, Charlize Morrison and Alexis Plater were part of the NSW Country team that took part in last week’s Under 18 National Championships in Brisbane.

The Coffs Harbour Suns juniors played a role in helping NSW Country to reach the quarter finals and a sixth-place finish.

NSW Country started their National Championships with a 58-49 win against Tasmania, with Charlotte Cougle top scoring with 15 points.

NSW Country made it two wins in a row with a 77-71 victory against Victoria Metro.

After losing their third game to South Australia Metro, the NSW Country team bounced back with a 68-64 win against Western Australia Metro.

Charlotte Cougle top scored for her team with 14 points, and Charlize Morrison was next best with 11 points while also having five assists.

NSW Country ended their pool stage with a 70-67 win against Queensland North, finishing second in their pool.

Charlize Morrison scored 13 points for her team.

Their run at the National Championships ended with a 61-48 defeat to Victoria Country in the quarter finals.

NSW Country assistant coach Andrew Williams is also from Coffs Harbour, and gave his thoughts on coaching the four Coffs girls.

“I’ve coached them for the past four years, and they have grown up playing together the whole way through juniors,” he said.

“They are really good to coach, and it’s a challenge for them adjusting from being a star to having to play a role for their NSW team.

“They played hard and competed against the best girls in the country,

“They have a good work ethic and I do high performance training with them, and they understand what it takes to make the state team, and they are willing to learn and give 100 percent effort.”

By Aiden BURGESS