Braves stars have a great weekend away

The Champions IGA Bendigo Braves Women extended their unbeaten start to the NBL1 South season to six on the weekend, with away wins against Casey on Friday night and Eltham on Sunday.

Amy Atwell picked up where she left off last week, scoring 11 points in the first quarter against Casey, as Bendigo went into quarter time 27-21 ahead.

The Braves lifted their defensive intensity in the second quarter, a 13-4 run late in the team, putting them up by 13 at half time.

Bendigo ran out winners 100-70 after a strong last quarter. Atwell finished the night with 29 points. McKay was sensational yet again with 20 points, and Cassidy McLean continued her amazing form with another 15.

Bendigo left their three-point shooting form on the bus for the first quarter against Eltham, down 4-11 early, but recovering to go into quarter time 15-19.

McLean and Wilson upped the intensity in the second quarter, Bendigo leading by two at the half and having the momentum with them.

The Braves’ transition game stepped up a notch in the third term, even if their three-point shooting didn’t, with Bendigo shooting two from 17 beyond the arc at one stage.

Eltham never let Bendigo get too far away, but the experience of Wilson, McKay, Atwell, and McLean saw Bendigo home 73-64.

McKay led the scoring with 23 points and 12 rebounds. McLean (22 points and 6 steals) and Atwell (12 points and 9 rebounds) were the other major contributors on the scoreboard.

Wilson finished with an astonishing triple-double – 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists.

Coach Mark Alabakov said it was an important weekend for his team.

“It was fun to play against Casey. They are very well coached and play totally as a team, so it’s always a hard game,” he said.

“It felt as though they hung in there with us for the first half. I thought Amy was as valuable for us defensively as she was offensively against Casey

“Meg was the catalyst for a lot of the time and space that was created for others and Cass keeps going from strength to strength”

Against Eltham, Alabakov said finding other ways to score was a good test.

“Being able to keep our offence going and make the right decisions when things weren’t working was a good experience for us,” he said.

“Eltham was the first team this season to try to get under our skin and be really physical, holding and grabbing, but we were still able to create the shots we wanted.

“It’s kind of like the AFL equivalent of flooding, which means we didn’t make them pay as much on the scoreboard as we should have.”

Not for the first time this season, Alabakov was in awe of the performance of Wilson.

“Against Eltham, Kelly was magnificent. She controlled the game with only six field goal attempts. I have never seen that before,” he said.

“People used to talk about how miraculous it was when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson would control games with only 10 attempts.

“Kelly did even better.”

Photo - Craig Dilks Photography