DAY FOUR of the Australian Basketball Schools Championship (ABSC) took place on Thursday, and saw Lake Ginninderra book a grand final berth in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

The men’s side was anchored by a terrific performance from Cameron Pender, who continued the form that has seen him right in the conversation for the Most Valuable Player award come tournament’s end.

In the 114-95 semi-final triumph over Southport, Pender posted a ridiculous statline of 40 points, 21 rebounds and six assists, leading his side to a spot in the gold medal game later today, completely dominating the opposition inside and scored at all three levels. With shooting figures of 16/36 from the field and 3/5 from behind the arc, Pender could not be stopped as Lake Ginninderra fed him the ball.

Of his 21 rebounds, 15 came on the offensive end, showcasing his ability to get best position on both ends of the court and generating plenty of second-chance points for the winning side.

Also impressing for Lake Ginninderra was Lachlan Smith, with the wing producing his best performance of the tournament in the most crucial match his side has faced.

He didn’t finish too far behind Pender in the scoring column, posting an eye-catching 36 points on 13/23 shooting from the field and 5/9 from three-point territory. Between he and Pender, Lake Ginninderra had plenty of avenues to scoring and it was reflected in their triple-figures final score.

Lake Ginninderra also had the Sacramento State-bound Bowyn Beatty fighting hard inside the paint, with the big man racking up a huge double-double of 15 points and 18 rebounds.

Southport’s prospects were boosted by the performance of star Jaylen Pittman, who fought valiantly to keep the side’s score ticking over with 35 points of his own on 14/23 shooting, continuing the accuracy trend throughout the game.

In the women’s competition, Jessica Petrie continued to forge one of the most eye-catching campaigns of the whole tournament, posting yet another triple-double for Lake Ginninderra in its 103-62 triumph over Rowville Secondary College.

Petrie delivered a statline of 22 points (11/20 FG), 22 rebounds and 12 assists, doing a bit of everything on her way to an appearance in the gold medal game. Petrie has been one of the standouts of the competition thus far, and is destined for another strong showing on the big stage.

Also impressing in that contest for Lake Ginninderra was Isla Juffermans, who continued her red-hot scoring form of late with 35 points on some remarkably accurate shooting (15/19 FG) to go with 22 boards, while VJBL star Bonnie Deas top-scored for Rowville with 24 points.