Warrnambool Mermaids' under 12s win 2023 Basketball Victoria country championships title

Louise Brown and Mia Mills joined forces to lead Warrnambool Mermaids to the Basketball Victoria under 12 country championship in Bendigo on Sunday.

The team went through the three-day tournament undefeated, winning its three pool games before beating a trio of Gippsland-based rosters - Pakenham (quarter-final), Warragul (semi-final) and Traralgon (grand final) - on its way to the title.

Brown, who had Jenna Osborne's support as team manager, said all 10 players - Sophie Byrne, Ellie Dobson, Sibella Evans, Ava Gleeson, Starla Lilley, Austyn McInerney, Molly McNeil, Hannah Ragg, Viv Smedts and Holly Woodward - played their part.

"They are a great group of kids and I think our strength was that we are a fairly evenly spread team, we don't rely on one or two people," she said.

"Each game a couple of different girls stepped up and top-scored or played some really good defence and I think that worked in our favour in the end considering you play nine games over three days."

Brown - a former Big V championship-winning coach - said it was pleasing to see basketball go from strength-to-strength in south-west Victoria.

"I am super proud of these little girls. If you go back to the start of the squad year there was no one who put their hand up to coach these girls so Mia and I said we wouldn't let them go without a coach," she said.

"Basketball is in a really good spot. All of our teams have done really well at country champs - our under 12 boys finished in the top-eight.

"Our numbers are really healthy and it shows by our results. All of our championship (grade) teams have gone to country champs and been really successful which is a credit to the coaches, kids, parents and families for all their commitment."

The under 14 girls' team won division two the previous week.

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