South Spotlight | Miners lock in playoff spot

Featured image: Mitchell Barlow

The Ballarat Miners outscored the Sandringham Sabres 49 to 23 in the first and third quarters to set up their important NBL1 South win to lock themselves into a top 10 position and give their opponents a fourth straight defeat.

The Sabres were back home at Southern Basketball Stadium having lost their past three including back on Thursday night to the Melbourne Tigers while still without Steph Reid, Klara Wischer, Maddie Angus and Madi Ryan.

Ballarat were trying to bounce back from a loss to the Dandenong Rangers and started on fire with 23 points to 11 in the first quarter and took control once more with 26 to 12 in the third.

That saw the Miners build a 19-point lead by three quarter-time and go on to win by 11 to improve to a 12-9 record while the Sabres are now 14-7 with the four straight defeats after they were occupying top spot.

>> SOUTH SPOTLIGHT | KNOX MOVE CLEAR IN TOP SPOT

>> SOUTH SPOTLIGHT | CHINESE STARS DELIVER TIGERS WIN

>> SOUTH WRAP | WOMEN'S FIRST NATIONS ROUND

It was another tough outing for Sandringham without several key players with Ballarat ending up shooting 42 per cent from the field to 31 from the Sabres along with 11/23 from downtown to 6/26.

Sandringham did battle hard with 17 offensive rebounds to eight and they did get up an extra 14 shot attempts, but just couldn’t knock enough of them down.

Camille Hobby finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and three steals for Ballarat with Abbey Wehrung adding 16 points, four boards and two steals, and Casey Samuels 15 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

Hsi Yeh Liu also had 12 points, four rebounds and two assists with 3/4 three-point shooting, and Malia Fisher eight points, eight boards, four assists and four steals.

It's four straight losses for a Sandringham team who had just six players hit the floor with Funda Nakkasoglu finishing with 22 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Isis Lopes added 13 points, five rebounds and two assists, Ella Ongarato nine points, seven boards and two steals, Josie Agnew seven points and two rebounds, and Lucy Cochrane six points with 16 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Sandringham were trying to avoid a fourth straight loss but it was a tough ask with who they were missing and against the travelling Miners trying to avoid consecutive defeats themselves in their lone appearance this weekend.

Ballarat made the fast start with 23 points to 11 in the first quarter and then the lead got out to 14 early in the second frame before Sandringham did respond and by half-time had that lead for the Miners back to 36-31.

Camille Hobby had 13 points for Ballarat and Abbey Wehrung eight while they shot at 39 per cent from the field with 5/12 from deep despite having nine turnovers.

Funda Nakkasoglu had eight points for the Sabres while they were shooting at just 24 per cent for 4/10 from behind the arc but they did pull down 12 offensive rebounds and had an extra 12 shot attempts over the opening 20 minutes.

Ballarat took back control of the contest in the third quarter by putting up 26 points to 12 on the back of shooting 8/16 from the field, 5/8 from long-range and 5/5 at the foul line while the Sabres managed to go just 3/12 with five more turnovers.

That saw the Miners leading 62-43 by three quarter-time and then even with Sandringham going on an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter, Ballarat still secured the 11-point win.

The Sabres now finish the regular at home to the Northern Force on Friday night trying to avoid going into the finals with five straight losses while Ballarat are on the road to the Nunawading Spectres next Saturday.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 63 (Nakkasoglu 22, Lopes 13, Ongarato 9)

BALLARAT MINERS 74 (Hobby 17, Wehrung 16, Samuels 15)