6 June
Author- Justin Schwarze
Hume City has hoisted the first ever Milner-Sellwood Hume City Challenge Shield with a dominant record over local rivals Sunbury across the season. The Broncos secured their hands on the silverware with the Senior Championship Men handling business against the Jets at Broadmeadows Basketball Stadium on Saturday night.
The Shield was decided by a best-of-four head-to-head record between the men’s and women’s teams, with Hume City winning three of the four season matchups. In the first game of the evening, Sunbury fought hard and stole the game on the road 79-80 thanks to an Emmonnie Henderson go-ahead tip-in with eight seconds to go.
The Jets controlled most of the match, leading by as much as 11 in the fourth, before the hosts came storming back.
Madeline Holland gave the Broncos the lead with a clutch pullup jumper, before Tresai McCarver’s missed layup was cleaned up by Henderson. Georgia Keighran got off a good look to win it, but it bounced off the back rim and thus gave the visitors the one-point triumph.
Holland finished with a game-high 26 points along with 11 rebounds and five assists on 54 percent shooting in defeat. Henderson was phenomenal for Sunbury, posting a monster double-double of 20 points and 18 rebounds.
The win gave the Jets a chance to still clinch the title if they were to win the men’s game.
However, Hume City made sure it went home with the trophy and the bragging rights.
In the men’s game, the Broncos completely controlled the contest, outscoring their opponents in every quarter to cruise to a 92-68 wire-to-wire victory. The hosts extended their lead to as much as 24, further solidifying their dominant start to the 2025 campaign. Kavione Green top-scored for Hume City, dropping 22 paired with seven rebounds. Nine of the 10 Broncos players that entered the game scored, marking a deep and well-rounded performance at home that secured the result and the Shield.
“We’re performing pretty well and getting some consistent input from guys all the way through the team which is good,” Hume City Senior Men’s coach Matt Foster said. “What we took out of it is we have the potential to improve which puts us in a good spot.”
The Broncos’ defense was stifling, forcing 21 turnovers and holding Sunbury to 38 percent shooting from the floor.
They also dominated the glass, outrebounding the visitors 56-39 in an imposing defensive showing.
“That’s what we’re able to do, disrupt other teams and we try to play at a high tempo pace,” Foster said.
“We want other teams to take shots and make decisions they’re not accustomed to, so that’s the style we went in with. It was good to see it work against Sunbury, we were fortunate to keep some of their quality players quiet.”
“We’ve just got to continue buying into what we’re doing as a team and keep playing as a team.”
“It was good to extend the lead every quarter and play well which enabled us to prepare us for Sunday as well.”
On Sunday, Hume City handed Keysborough just its second loss for the season to firmly place the Broncos atop the table in Championship.
“We’re trying to keep our pieces together and buy into the system we’re putting out there,” Foster said.
“On any given night, we’ve got six or seven guys who can go for 20-plus and it’s just about recognising who’s hot at the right time.”
The real focus for Hume City is on the rest of the season and going as deep as possible into the postseason, but for now it will enjoy its new title in the trophy cabinet. And that’s a trophy that feels even sweeter when it’s over a local rival.
“It was a really good night, it culminated with our pink round so that was great,” Foster said of the night.
“There was a really good atmosphere, it was good to play the game in front of that big crowd.”
