LOXTON basketballer Bianca Stasinowsky’s star continues to rise after a successful season playing for both school and club in Adelaide.
In just her first year attending Immanuel College, Stasinowsky, 15, was part of an undefeated Open A basketball side that won both the Independent Girls’ Schools South Australia premiership and the School Sport SA Championship.
Stasinowsky also played for the Forestville Eagles under 18 division one team which won the Under 18 Girls State Championship last month.
Stasinowsky said she enjoyed her first year of studying and playing for Immanuel.
“Especially with it being my first year, it felt pretty good to get the win with a really good bunch of girls,” she said.
“There’s been plenty of opportunities and a lot more time to spend on my basketball and playing at a high level as well.
“It was so enjoyable because everyone was very welcoming and it made it a lot of fun.”
With the school year finishing up, Stasinowsky is now focused on an upcoming competition with the SA Country representative team.
“At the moment I am training with SA Country for the Adelaide Invitational Challenge in January, where we’ll play against SA Metro and a couple of the other states,” she said.
“After that I’ll be getting ready for national selections.”
The Immanuel Open A netball team, which Stasinowsky played in, also took out the School Sport SA Championship.
“I’m mainly focused on basketball, but playing school netball has given me an extra outlet,” Stasinowsky said.
“The girls here have been so welcoming, especially with it being my first year and being the youngest one in the Open A team at school.”
Stasinowsky said she had begun weighing up her options to further her basketball career once she graduates high school, including playing college basketball in America.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure but it is definitely one of my options at the moment,” she said.
“I’m starting to look a lot more into it and I’m quite intrigued by it.”
Stasinowsky said she would “hopefully” play some games for Loxton once the school year finished.
“It’s always good to go back home and see friends and family,” she said.
“Hopefully I will get to play in the division one team and maybe even the under 18 team as well.
“It will be good to be able to play with old friends again.”