The only thing better than winning a gold medal from the recent Pacific School Games for Bathurst basketballer Emily Matthews was the fact it came from overtime against her arch rivals.

Matthews and her NSW team defeated Victoria 76-74 in overtime after the under 18s girls grand final ended 65-all at the conclusion of four quarters.

The teams went neck and neck throughout almost the entire match, with the Victorians carrying a 30-27 lead at half-time. A surge from Matthews and her NSW team saw them briefly take a 10-point lead late in the third quarter, but the Victorians recovered to square it up at the final buzzer.

In overtime a three-point shot from NSW’s Bree Delaney, with just four seconds remaining, turned a one-point deficit into a two-point winning margin.

Matthews said a win over her southern rivals has never felt more satisfying.

“It feels really amazing. It was such a great experience. I’m very happy to get the gold and it was over Victoria, which is even better,” she said.

“They were undefeated as well, going into the final. They went in there pretty confident that they were going to win, so beating them was great.

“We were up for the first three quarters ... but then in the fourth they came out hard and got into the lead. It went a bit pear shaped but we came back.

“In overtime they shot the first two baskets so we had to call a quick over-time to fix that up. It was pretty even until the last minute, then in the last five seconds one of our girls came off a screen to score a three-pointer. That was amazing.”

Matthews shot 12 points for the final, while match winner and fellow Combined Catholic Colleges team-mate Delaney led the way with 25. 

Wins over hosts South Australia (63-57), China (105-71), Western Australia (93-41) and India (92-48) helped Matthews’ squad to a guaranteed top-four spot.

NSW once again knocked over the host state in the semi-finals to the tune of 63-55 to book their place against Victoria for the decider.

The journey to the final didn’t come without its drama during the pool stages, which came at the hands of the travelling China outfit.

“We first played South Australia and they would be one of the stronger teams in the comp as well. Coming up against them first was a bit nerve-wracking,” Matthews said.

“We then had China, which was a very interesting game. They were very rough. Most of their girls got fouled off, but when they did they would come back on in a different singlet. In the last quarter we picked it up and the girls had to get sent off, so they ended up playing the end of the match with four players.”

Once past the dubious moments, Matthews finished the competition with 11.3 points per game and one well-earned piece of gold slung around her neck.