Narrogin basketball rising star Amelia Corasaniti among the best for WA country at national championships

Narrogin basketball rising star Amelia Corasaniti produced an impressive display at the under-16 Australian Junior Championships that wrapped up at Warwick Stadium in Perth this month. The competition was held from July 3-10 with 12 teams taking part from around Australia. New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Tasmania all fielded teams from metro and country zones. The WA Country girls squad, including Corasaniti, managed to secure two wins from nine games on their way to a fourth-place finish in their pool, defeating Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory in their second and sixth games, respectively. The squad finished in eighth place overall at the competition. Corasaniti was one of the standouts in the WA side, recording the highest team averages in points and rebounds a game. The 15-year old averaged 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and two assists a game. She put her best performance in against eventual tournament winners NSW Metro, dropping a team-high 26 points while shooting at 52 percent, recording four rebounds and draining three three-pointers. Corasaniti also impressed with a sparkling display in WA’s 88-55 victory against NT, recording a staggering 13 steals along with 22 points, eight rebounds and one three-pointer. The budding young star said she enjoyed making improvements in each game of the tournament. “It was unexpected, I’d say it was a lot harder because some of the players are a lot stronger and faster than you,” she said. “I definitely got better as the competition went on because at the start you didn’t really know what to expect. “You just get there and you’re thrown into the game and you don’t realise how hard it is. “After the first game, I got into it and understood what I needed to do better. “It was the first time we played together as a team so after the first game, we played a lot better in the second game as a team. “The highlight of the tournament was that it was more challenging than usual playing against really good competition.” Corasaniti was hoping to get more opportunities to further her basketball. “Next year I’m moving to Perth to board and I’ll be doing SEDA (SEDA College WA) which is the basketball program so I can do my basketball training and have more opportunities,” she said.