Defence will be a focus for the Rockhampton Cyclones when they hit the court at the Basketball Queensland under-18 state championships.this week.

The Wade Rebetzke-coached outfit will compete in girls Division 2 and open their campaign against the Burdekin Wildcats at 12.30pm on Wednesday.

Their male counterparts, the Rockhampton Rockets, will play in boys Division 1 and the Rockhampton Jets in boys Division 3/4.

The championships at Carrara’s Gold Coast Leisure and Sports Complex run from Wednesday to Sunday and The Morning Bulletin will be livestreaming the action.

Basketball fans can watch every game on the venue’s showcourt - court seven in hall one - on this website.

READ: Young Rockets fire on their home floor

Rebetzke said the Cyclones would face some stiff competition but he was sure they would enjoy success if they executed the things they had been working on in training and in their lead-up events.

He would be looking to small forward Briella Weber and shooting guard Kaylah Frazer to lead from the front.

“For us it’s probably more about continuing that improvement; we’ve been working pretty hard at practice to improve areas of our game and hopefully we can see that at the state championships,” Rebetzke said.

“I’m just looking for effort and being able to compete in each game and I think if we do that, we’re a chance of getting some wins.”

Rebetzke said there would be no easy games for the Cyclones and they would need to step up in defence.

“I think everyone will be tough to beat down there but if we apply ourselves and do the little things well, we give ourselves the best opportunity,” Rebetzke said.

“If we can do that for the full 40 minutes, we’ll be a chance to win games.”

Rockhampton Cyclones under-18 squad: Kaylah Frazer, Briella Weber, Ella O’Shea, Amy Smith, Abbey Fenton, Casey Dunn, Natalie Jones, Clare Stewart