Western Australia has been crowned over the weekend both the boys and girls under-17 National Indigenous Basketball Tournament champions for 2023.
The shared titles came after both state teams coincidentally won three-point thrillers in their respective finals at the Northside Indoor Sports Centre in suburban Brisbane.
Lasiana Edgar in a near-solo performance shot the West Australian boys to a famous 48-45 victory against hosts Queensland South on the back of a game-high 21 points.
The shooting guard had only averaged 7.75 points through his opening four appearances before pulling off four clutch three-pointers under pressure.
He had only downed four from beyond the arc across all of his four earlier games.
Edgar came home hard in the fourth quarter, nailing 13 points while calmly dropping two free throws after being fouled in the final seconds to stretch the margin out from one to three for the win.
Queensland South led the visitors by as much as nine points in the third term before conceding the next seven points and handing back the ascendancy.
Kaylan Jackson landed 17 points in the heartbreaking loss while LeBron Brooks added a further 10.
Brooks finished the Patty Mills-founded competition as one of the two leading points-scorers, amassing 75 points at 15 per game along with Victorian Wundarra Thomas.
New South Wales pulled off some last-quarter heroics to overcome a 13-point deficit in the other tournament decider.
Cheyann Grimes Trindall sunk a critical three-pointer to have her team back within a solitary point, but eventually lost the ball game seconds later at the death to Western Australia in a nailbiting 43-40 finish.
After Western Australia went nearly three minutes without troubling the scorers, Mahalia Rukuata was fouled, downed both shots from the paint and delivered her state the win.
The last-gasp comeback did have New South Wales tally up 23 of the game's next 34 points to appear to hold all the momentum late in the final.
Rukuata eventually finished with nine points while teammates Ella Bonbongle scored eight and Tiahna Websdale, Sienna Gerardi and Mareeka Garlett all shot six each.
Grimes Trindall shot 14 points including nine in three-pointers while Roxy George hit 11 points and Poppi Laine eight for the runners-up.
The tournament top scorers was shared between Torres Strait Islands shooter Taryn Bond and Northern Territory Metro's Tanessa Hampton, who both accumulated 80 points each.
