A week at the School Sport Australia Basketball Championships in Perth has solidified the ambitions of Pakenham’s Stella O’Loughlin to reach the sport’s professional level.
O’Loughlin played in each of Victorian 16-Under Girls’ seven matches at the championships where they finished the tournament in fourth place, falling to Queensland in the bronze medal playoff on Friday 25 August.
One of the team’s point guards, O’Loughlin averaged 20 minutes per game, with her starring performance coming against the eventual champions New South Wales in the round-robin leg of the competition.
O’Loughlin scored 28 points, on 57 per cent shooting (11/19), to lead her team in scoring, and grabbed four rebounds and provided five assists.
She scored both in the paint, slicing her way through taller defenders on the interior and finishing at the rim time-after-time, while also showing her range from beyond the three-point line.
The highlight of her game came when she salvaged a broken play by nailing a running shot from just inside the half court line as the shot clock expired, the first time she had nailed a basket from that distance during a match.
“There were two seconds left and the ball had been knocked-away, so I just got it and shot it,” O’Loughlin explained.
“I guess there was no pressure or expectation on that game; we were the underdogs and it was our second game of the day, so we were all tired.
“Nothing was really expected so I had no pressure and just came out and played, didn’t overthink anything.
“It was hard, but good to be exposed to that level.
“The physicality was not what it’s like when I play on Friday nights, it was fast-paced, and very physical.”
As one of the older players on the squad, O’Loughlin was entrusted with the responsibility of steadying the ship when things got out of hand on the court, controlling the tempo of the contest and calling plays, tasks she had not experienced in previous teams.
Handling pressure and an increase in expectation is nothing new to the 16-year-old, who made the jump to Big V basketball this season to represent the Pakenham Warriors at senior level, having impressed coach Robertus Dielemans with her Basketball IQ, enthusiasm and skill set.
Australian guards Monique Conti, Shyla Heal and Stephanie Reid are among her idols and players she looks to emulate as her journey continues, with sights set on a professional career.
In 2022 she got a taste of what the U.S Collegiate lifestyle has to offer, touring the United States for two weeks with the ATC Academy and getting the chance to impress a number of college scouts during tournaments in Texas and Chicago.
A week in Perth under similar circumstances with her peers, living and breathing the sport, only fanning the flames of her ambitions.
“It was good to just play, but it was also really fun to hang-out with all the girls,” she said.
“We spent almost every day at the stadium, watching the boys’ team, playing and getting ready.
“We’d all sit together as a group at the end of the court, supporting the boys.”
For now, it’s back to Cardinia Life for the 16-year-old, but if she continues to catch the eye of talent scouts, she won’t be there much longer.
