Everything Nick Prior touches turns to gold at the moment.
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With Port Macquarie Dolphins' sitting second on the Spalding Waratah Men's senior basketball ladder, Prior sprinkled some more of his winning dust over the association's under-16 girls team.
The Dolphins only lost one game at the weekend on the way to claiming the John Martin division two country tournament which culminated in a 44-22 win over Illawarra Hawks in the final at Maitland.
"It's one of those things," Prior said when asked what the secret to his coaching success had been.
"I guess when it's going wrong you don't really know and when it's going right you don't either. We've been keeping it really simple with the girls, playing hard and they're working as a group. It's been nice to see."
Port Macquarie headed south knowing any injuries would derail their shot at country championship glory, but the luck proved to be on their side.
They had five wins from six games and a relatively injury-free run to show for their efforts. Sometimes you create your own luck.
"We went down there only with seven players and they all performed really, really well. They had no room for error or injuries," Prior said.
"It was one of those weekends where things fell into place and they clicked and played really nicely."
Prior said a two-basket defeat to the Hawks in the final match before the finals provided the team with the confidence required to turn the result around in the final.
"We walked away from there thinking if we were good enough to get through the semis and get another crack at them in the final we'd be a good shot and it proved to be right," the coach said.
All of the team contributed to the win, but it was the performances of Cara McIlroy and Charlotte Cooper which stood out to the coach.
"Cara has been one of our stronger players all year and she had a really consistent weekend," he said.
"Charlotte was named MVP of the finals, but I think Cara would have been our MVP overall... but all the girls had good games at times and all stepped up in different games."
Prior admitted success hadn't been common in Port Macquarie basketball history when it came to country championships over the years.
"It's certainly not a regular occurrence [winning a tournament like the John Martin Cup]," he said.
"But it's pleasing for the girls because we struggle to attract numbers in the girls' side of the sport so it's great when the girls perform which highlights the good work we're doing."
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