Over the past fortnight, the U19 Australian Gems participated in the U19 World Championship in Bangkok, lead by Head Coach (and Broncos Senior Womens Head Coach) Dee Butler.

The Gems had the toughest start to the tournament, coming up against powerhouse United States going down by 23 points. From that point onwards though, the Gems got the job done in each game, coming second in the pool, defeating Hungary and Korea.

The Gems pushed through Colombia, Mali, and Spain to progress through to the Gold Medal Match, against you-know-who.

It was a fantastic match of young women’s basketball, with the Gems perhaps taking the USA by surprise and so close to victory heading into overtime.

Unfortunately the USA took the Gold by 4 points in a thrilling encounter.

A silver medal podium finish is an awesome result for the Gems and Dee; and Dee will hopefully bring home the Gold when she returns as Head Coach to the Senior Bronco Womens as we head into a finals campaign this weekend.