Central Highlands Water Ballarat Miners Rush Youth Weekly Review round 5

The Central Highlands Water Ballarat Miners Rush Youth Weekly Review by Head Coaches.

For our 6th game of the season the Central Highlands Water Ballarat Miners Youth team were on the road again (our 5th road game), this time we travelled to Blackburn. This was a game where 4 of our starters from previous games were unavailable due to them playing up with the NBL1 team. So it was a great opportunity for our role, bench and development players to get some decent court time and show the coaching staff their capability at the Championship level.

Our defence in the first half was exceptional as we held Blackburn to 28 points in total, whilst scoring 50 ourselves. As the lead extended to nearly 30 points in the 3rd quarter we became complacent and lazy on the defensive end and allowed far too many points in the 2nd half (especially the last quarter). This was a great learning experience for our team, highlighting that if we aren't switched on for all 40 minutes, teams will make us pay for lapses in concentration and turnovers.

Overall winning 94 - 82, the most pleasing aspect of the game was how well we shared the ball, with 19 assists on 31 made baskets. We also had 6 players score in double figures, showing we didn't need to rely purely on one player to score enough points.

We now have a 4-2 overall record from 5 games on the road, so we are excited about the rest of the season as we now enter a decent stretch of home games over the next 6 weeks. Starting with Knox this Saturday night @ 8pm. So we'd love to see as many fans as possible at the Minerdome to help us capitalise on our great start to the season. Go Ballarat!

We had two players have really good games both ending with double doubles. 
Aussie McKenzie had 21 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds
Jesse Di Martino had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists

The Central Highlands Water Ballarat Rush Youth were also on the road heading for the State Basketball Centre on Sunday morning to take on Knox at 12:00pm.

The team was excited to get underway and show what we can do! Both teams looked ready from the get go however, Knox were able to take the early lead by 4 at quater time. From there onwards it was a back and forth battle with that early lead proving important. 

The Rush girls contiuned to work hard on both offense and defense and were able to limit the scoring of Knox espeically in the 3rd. We just couldn't quite capatlise and get on top to take and whole the lead. Ultimately losing in a really close one 67-62. 

We contiune to grow and take our learnings from each game as we look to show what we can do back at home in front of a Ballarat crowd. 

Millie Cracknell had a great game with 16 points, 8 rebounds & 5 assits. Emma Pedretti was also solid scoring 11 points and having 10 rebounds. 

This Weekend's Games

- Saturday April 24, 6:00pm The Central Highlands Water Ballarat Rush Youth v Hawthorn at the Minerdome

- Saturday April 24, 8:00pm The Central Highlands Water Ballarat Miners Youth v Knox at the Minerdome