Bendigo coach happy despite loss

It’s not often a coach of a professional basketball team is happy after a loss, but Champions IGA Bendigo Braves Women boss Mark Alabakov was feeling that very emotion after his team went down to Keilor at Red Energy Arena on Saturday night.

With stars Amy Atwell and Alex Wilson on Australian duties, and Meg McKay unavailable, Bendigo went into the game against the ladder leaders with about 70 points a game missing. 

“Yeah, I am happy with that,” he said.

“It was always going to be a big challenge against a team on top of the ladder. I was proud of the team this week. There was buy-in across the whole week.

“And this team created 23 turnovers against the top side. Every one of their starters had four or more turnovers which showed how hard our team was working and how well they were achieving what we were trying to do in defense.”

The first four minutes of the game was a bit of a slog for both sides, before Caitlin Richardson got things going with seven points in five minutes.

By the end of the first quarter, Bendigo’s three-point shooting was letting them down, going into the first break 13-22 down.

Bendigo’s scrambling defense was doing as well as it could against the two top-quality Keilor talls, with finishing letting Bendigo down.

The third quarter was a dour affair, with only 24 points scored by both teams as defense took over.

The match opened up in the final term, but Bendigo couldn’t catch up, going down 65-79.

Kasey Burton top scored with 18 points. Cass McLean finished on 15 and Richardson 11.

Going into the changing rooms after the game, the team was upbeat about the result.

“We were in it for most of the game. There was only two baskets in it in the second and third quarters, and we won the last,” Alabakov said.

“The issue for us was finishing, and that was the difference in the game.

“We got good open shots and forced them to play off balance a lot of the time.

“I was happy with the way we played.”

Photo - Craig Dilks Photography