Understrength Bendigo Women push Tassie duo

The depth of the Champions IGA Bendigo Braves Women was tested yet again over the weekend, with up to four starters unavailable for their Tasmanian double-header weekend.

Kelly and Alex Wilson, Meg McKay, and Amy Atwell weren’t on court as Bendigo took on Hobart on Friday night, but you wouldn’t have known it in the first quarter.

Madi Sexton, Meg McCarthy, and Michelle Fletcher were on fire early, and Bendigo’s offence was flying. Their 21-15 quarter time lead included seven assists to one, and a strong win on the rebound count.

Hobart managed to take the lead early in the second quarter, before Sexton (13 points in the half) and Cassidy McLean wrestled back control to help Bendigo take a four-point buffer into the main break.

The third quarter, however, was a tough one for Bendigo, with their defense struggling to contain the Chargers. Hobart put on 33 points to take a seven-point lead into the final quarter.

Bendigo fought hard, getting back to within one in the final minutes, but struggled to capitalise, going down 86-80.

McLean was outstanding with 26 points and 11 assists, in one of her best games of the year.

The quality of Sexton (18) and Kasey Burton (17) also shone out throughout the game, and McCarthy finished with nine points.

Having to back up the next night for another away game was always going to be tough, but Bendigo shot out of the blocks at Launceston, this time with Kelly Wilson up front.

An 11-0 run saw Bendigo lead by 10 in the first term, going into the first break 21-17 up on the back of impressive shooting from McCarthy and McLean.

But in a repeat of the night before, it was one quarter that made all the difference for Bendigo, and this time it was the second.

A 0-19 run saw Bendigo go into the main break 37-48 down and having to play catchup for the rest of the game.

Bendigo came out firing at the start of the third term, with a 5-0 run reducing the lead to just four.

A Wilson three with 10 seconds to go dropped the lead to three, before a hail Mary shot just beyond the half-way line by Launceston on the buzzer went in, a score that would prove crucial in the wash-up.

Caiti Richardson stepped up to the plate in the final quarter when the game was on the line, with three steals and four points in the first two minutes of the last term.

Scores were even with five minutes to go, but Launceston got the rub of the green in the final stages, Bendigo going down 73-76.

McLean ended a stunning weekend, leading all scorers with 22 points. Wilson (18 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals) again racked up the stats, and Sexton finished with 13 points.

Richardson had an impressive five steals for the game.

Coach Mark Alabakov was philosophical about the result.

“We have made our peace with what we were able to control,” he said.

“The league is too good to have any lapses in concentration, or to allow that lapse to compound with a lack of effort on the next play.

“We wanted to have a continuous thought process and continuous competitiveness this weekend and we made a lot of progress.

“We put ourselves in the position of being without four starters and then without three starters, yet we scored well and narrowly lost both games.

“That’s progress, especially when you consider both our opponents were mostly undisrupted when it came to player availability.”

Alabakov praised his young guns for sticking with it, both this round and over the past couple of months.

“No one packed it in when it got hard,” he said.

“Meg played really well for us this weekend. She showed she can play with assertiveness and be disruptive defensively, especially against Launceston.

“Caiti has had a really good season and established herself into our rotation. She is someone we can be confident starting if we need to.

“The more she plays the more we realise how important she is to our team.

“And Cass is an absolute gun. Defensively she took the best player from both sides and still hit 20 points both nights.”

Photo - Craig Dilks Photography