East Blaxland's Adam Lulka has been named in the NSW Metropolitan Men's Basketball team.
The Penrith Basketball Association giant will now compete at the 2015 Under 18 national championships to be held in Ballarat, Victoria from April 11 to April 18.
Lulka will play for the Penrith Under 18 Men's team in 2015 and has also been invited by head coach John Hennessy to train with the senior Panthers men's team which is competing in the Waratah Championship League (WCL) competition.
Lulka started playing the sport seriously just five years ago.
"I took a liking to the sport, I enjoy roaming under the basket and doing run-around shots in attack and I try really hard in defence - I don't like any opponent getting past me," he told the Gazette in 2014.
Natalie Beaumont of Emu Heights narrowly missed out on selection in the State Under 18 Women's team but is listed as the first reserve.
Meanwhile Panthers and Bryden's Sydney Uni Flames WNBL point guard Tahlia Tupaea of Glenmore Park has reached another milestone in her illustrious career with selection in the Australian U19 Womens Basketball squad for the 2015 World Championships to be held in Russia in July.
This will be Tupaea's third world championships if she is selected in the final team, after gaining selection in the U19 team to Lithuania as a 16-year-old in 2013, then captaining the U17 Women in the Czech Republic in 2014.
Tupaea also won the Sportsperson of the Year award at this year's Penrith Australia Day Awards.
Penrith's two WCL teams open their 2015 campaign this Saturday, hosting the Bankstown Bruins at the Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, Cambridge Park. The women's game tips off at 4pm, followed by the men's at 6pm.
The Mountains is well represented in the Panthers men's squad with Louis Brandt (Springwood), Angus Brandt (Springwood), Jarrod Sorenson (Springwood) and Rhys Daley (Katoomba) all members.
Dominika Offner (Springwood) and Natalia Beaumont (Emu Heights) are both members of the Panthers women's squad.
