We had panic in the motel last night, absolute terror – in fact you could almost see the whites our intrepid travellers’ eyes. It seems the realisation had finally struck that the mountain of shopping purchases actually may not fit in all of our luggage, and we were flying out to Oakland the following morning (yikes). There were souvenir water bottles getting purged, shoe boxes thrown out, shopping bags abandoned, vacuum sealed bags coming into play and the pleading of those with a bit of room to take pity on their shopping mad friends. After a few hours of manouvering and rejuggling, the bulging (and I mean bulging bags) were packed with zippers stretched to capacity.

The next thing that really put fear into our poppets was the word that we needed to meet in the lobby at 5.30am the next morning, now that caused a lot of panic. A lot! I’d like you to imagine what it’s like to have 27 bleary eyed teenagers in one spot at that hour of the morning. They all made the deadline on time but it wasn’t pretty. There definitely wasn’t a lot of conversation – in fact, none. After a quiet trip to the airport, a quiet check in and quiet waiting at the gate, we flew quietly to Oakland (where we all slept on the plane). After we landed at Oakland we were slightly more rejuvenated and loaded everything onto the bus ready to head to St Mary’s College, unfortunately once everything and everyone was loaded we found out that we were on the wrong bus – the other Aussie basketball tour (from Sydney) had taken our bus. The students were very happy to unload everything and load it back onto the correct bus (we went quiet again after that 😊).

St Mary’s College of California is a private College that was founded in 1863. It has a total undergraduate enrolment of approximately 2700. The St Mary’s Gaels men’s basketball team represents the College in the West Coast Conference of the NCAA. The current head coach is Randy Bennett, who is the school’s all-time wins leader. St Mary’s is also the educational/basketball home of our very own Matthew Dellavedova and Patty Mills. We were taken on a tour of the school grounds and basketball facilities, with a few left dreaming of their College debut, before we headed back onto the bus to our next games at Piedmont High School.

Piedmont is a small and exceptionally wealthy semi-suburban city located in Alameda County, California. Piedmont is completely surrounded by the city of Oakland. Its residential population was 10,667.

Fun Facts:

• The name Piedmont comes after the region of Piedmont in Italy and literally means foothill.
• Regular town events include the July 4th Parade, Movies in the Park, Harvest Festival, Haunted House, Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, and Christmas Tree Lighting. 

Junior Varsity Boys:

The boys were off to a solid start with some strong defensive pressure from Darcy getting us some early turnovers. AJ lodged the first score on the board but Piedmont’s accurate shooting started to hurt us dearly with four 3 pointers putting us behind early. Joel Dent drove into the key and added another 2 points and Joel Duncan was applying the pressure to Piedmont’s offence. A three pointer from Joel Duncan and a steal and score by Joel Dent made our score look more respectable but Piedmont was still hurting us on the scoreboard. A pinpoint pass from Mason to help AJ get to the basket was a help but Piedmont were still raining down threes, scoring seven 3 pointers in the first quarter. At the first break we were 15 points down (25-10). Piedmont started the second quarter with another 3 pointer but was matched with scoring by Conall at our end and a 3 pointer from Joel Dent. Darcy (aka Daryll) was relentless in attacking the basket and Conall continued to add to the Titans score. Stuart scored from the foul line and at half time we were 17 points down (40-23). We started the third quarter with some strong defence but unfortunately our shots weren’t dropping until a Joel Duncan 3 pointer remedied the issue. AJ was pulling in the rebounds and Mason was driving strongly to the basket but unfortunately despite the boys best efforts the score was 57-31 at three quarter time. At the start of the fourth, Max was fighting hard under the basket for rebounds and Darcy was continuing to attack the basket. Jake was applying strong pressure in defence and James was working the ball well up the court. Darcy and Joel Duncan battled hard til the end with a final score of 71-33.

Varsity Girls:

The girls got onto the scoreboard quickly thanks to a Sarah two pointer followed by another two from Emily but Piedmont was matching our scoring efforts. Kayleigh’s pressure on the ball was proving a problem for Piedmont and creating turnovers. Sarah was providing some great passing options and a two pointer from Kayleigh saw the scores tied half way through the quarter. The team was applying great pressure but Piedmont pushed out the lead late in the quarter to go into the break 5 points up (18-13). Ellen and Emmason were fighting hard in defence and creating headaches for Piedmont but scoring was proving difficult for us. Sarah broke the drought by driving in and scoring to reduce the margin to two points. Emilia and Ella’s height was proving an advantage for rebounds and after Gabby drove in and scored 2 points, scores were level. A free throw conversion and 3 pointer from Gabby put us 4 points up, but scores from Piedmont brought it to a one point game at half time (24-25). Piedmont came out of the blocks strongly in the third quarter for be 7 points up after 2 minutes of play. The girls were working hard in defence but Piedmont’s accuracy had kicked in and they were pulling away. Two Ellen 3 pointers and another three points from the foul line helped to reduce the margin to 13 points (49-36) at the break. With the crowd getting vocal, Piedmont added to their score but the Titans girls rallied with some great defence and a score from Sarah. Ellen had found range and lodged another 3 pointer and Ella added another 2 points under the basket. Kate had a near miss with a 3 pointer which had the crowd on their feet in anticipation. The girls kept fighting til the end but final scores were 64-43.

Varsity Boys:

Our boys got off to a nervous start and were 9-0 two minutes into the quarter. A time out by Coach Buckley saw us return to the court and get 2 points on the board from Matt. The team settled with some tight defence from Oli creating the turnover and sending the ball down for Oscar to capitalise. Malok added another two points but it was proving too easy for Piedmont to get the ball down the court and score. A block and steal by Matt saw the ball head back our way with Oscar scoring both from the free throw line. We traded shots and at the end of the first quarter we were 10 points down (25-15). Some tight defence by Toby and Matt Withers created a turnover and a subsequent 3 pointer from Matt Black. Jaidyn added two points to our score, and Matt added another four to his tally. Malok was proving strong pulling in the rebounds at both ends.  In a great fight back the Titans were five points down at half time (31-26). At the start of the third, Oli and Toby applied the pressure with Toby converting from a steal and then adding another two points. Half way through the quarter the difference was six points but too many passing errors gave Piedmont a run to put them up by 15 points (52-37). Scores by Toby, Oli and Oscar kept the scoreboard ticking over but unfortunately, we couldn’t slow Piedmont’s scoring rate. A Matt Withers 3 pointer was much-needed as was Conall’s left handed lay up. An Oli/Oscar combination added another 2 points but in the end Piedmont ran out winners 72-53.

The Flag!

It’s usual for there to be one incident that gets you nominated for a flag, it’s unusual to have three separate reasons for a nomination in one day but then again nothing surprises us with Emma Gould. Emma has already earnt one flag title (remember the toilet shower, let’s not dwell on that one…) but yesterday may not have been some of her finest moments. I’ll keep these accounts short and succinct (some of us need to get to bed, remember the early morning). 1. While staying in our fancy hotel, Emma was excited to use the fancy lifts, so excited that she eagerly ran to get in the lifts with her Titans crew. Only problem was as she ran there and stuck here arm in to stop the door from closing and bellowing “waaaaaiiiit” she realised the blue tracksuits she had seen were actually blue suits, that’s right it wasn’t us. The elevator crowd was a little taken aback but thankfully took it in good spirits and even let her in the lift. 2. Last night an urgent message was sent out by Emma to the group chat saying it was an emergency and she needed a bandaid straight away as she had blood gushing everywhere. Michelle was onto it and bolted from her room and up the two levels to check out the ensuing emergency. Michelle was relieved, if not a little amused, to find out the injury was actually Emma stubbing her toe (luckily Michelle didn’t call 911, we all know she can do it). 3. Knowing what American security is like, we’re regimental in reminding our young travellers about the rules and regulations, the dos and the don’ts. Imagine our surprise then, when Emma is pulled up at security with knife in her bag, not a plastic knife, a metal butter knife. Security as you can imagine were non-plussed but apparently she needed it for her Nutella, sure that’s what they all say….