Stephanie Gorman

VICTORIA Country finished third at the under-18 national basketball championships in April and Wodonga’s Steph Gorman helped achieve this feat.

 “She played some big minutes in that game and she was in our starting five in the bronze medal game,” team coach Gerard Hillier said this week.

 “So she was one of the big reasons we won the bronze. “She’s a fierce competitor and that’s what we needed to get the job done.” Gorman, 16, ranks this success in Adelaide highly in a developing career that has earned her the June nomination in the 2017 Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year award.

 The teenager maintains a busy schedule of training and games with her club Wodonga, the Albury-Wodonga Lady Bandits and her state commitments.

 Add to that regular gym sessions and the National Intensive Training Program in Benalla, not to mention year 11 studies, Gorman admitted things could be “pretty full on”. “I try to do as much as I can in class so there’s not as much homework to take home,” she said.

 “When things are due the next day, sometimes I take it in the car when we’re travelling, most of the camps are in Melbourne.” Gorman, who stands at 178 centimetres, said she always enjoyed basketball.

 “Mum had us try all sports when we were little and that’s just the one I stuck with and loved the most,” she said. “I just love the physicality of it, being able to run.”

 A development player for the Lady Bandits last year, Gorman has progressed to the starting five this season. She said she had learned a great deal from playing in an open competition. “It’s a lot more physical, you’ve got to be smarter,” she said.

 “In juniors a pass you could make that might just get there, in seniors it’s not going to make it.” Hillier said playing against bigger and more mature opponents had definitely assisted Gorman.

 “When she comes back to play within her own age group you can see the strength and just her decision-making as being aided by playing with the Lady Bandits,” he said.

 “Steph’s been a big part of our squad of 10 for the past two nationals, she’s a strong-bodied person with a mature basketball IQ. The reason we selected Steph was she’s a young, dedicated, athletic player with an outside scoring presence.

 “She’s definitely grown into one of the leaders in our program.” Hillier said Gorman now needed to keep working, gain more experience and aim for the under-18 Victoria Country side again next year.

 “I would think Steph’s well on track for a division one scholarship in the US college system,” he said.

 RISING STAR: Basketballer Steph Gorman, 16, scored 13 points, four rebounds and four assists in the bronze medal game of the under-18 national titles.