SWAN Hill Flyers’ finals hopes appear all but quashed after another tough weekend.
The Flyers men’s and women’s teams both lost to the Melton Thoroughbreds at home on Sunday, leaving them anchored in the bottom half of the Country Basketball League ladder with two rounds to play.
They each need to win both of their double header matches to remain in the playoff hunt.
The men’s team started their weekend well, defeating Kyneton Tigers by 35 points on the road on Saturday night, but were smashed by Melton 128-78 on Sunday.
On Saturday night, the Flyers started slowly, trailing by eight points at quarter-time, before catching fire in the second period, scoring 32 points to 11 to blow the game open.
They then outscored Kyneton 56-34 in the second half to cruise to victory.
Lachlan Somerville (34 points) and Lachlan Gardner (26) did the bulk of the damage for the Flyers, while Matthew Gardner contributed 13.
But the Flyers were able to back up the performance on Sunday against Melton, who were on a two-game road trip, having lost to Mildura on Saturday night.
The absence of Somerville hurt Swan Hill, who had just three fit players on the bench.
Matthew Gardner (21 points) and Lachlan Gardner (20) led the scoring for Swan Hill.
The Lady Flyers walked away empty-handed from their two matches.
A tardy start cost Swan Hill on Saturday afternoon against ladder leaders Kyneton, who powered to a 17-2 lead in the opening quarter.
To their credit, Swan Hill outscored the Tigers by two points for the remainder of the match, but were unable to bridge the gap. Tamara Weiss continued her sublime season to lead the Flyers with 17 points.
Weiss was again one of Swan Hill’s better players in their 83-60 loss to Melton on Sunday.
Swan Hill trailed by just four points at half-time but the Thoroughbreds ran away in the second half, piling on 40-21 to win by 23 points.
Tess Denham posted a team high 12 points, while Indi Grey and Ryley Purcell finished with 11 points each.
The Flyers men’s and women’s teams host the Maryborough Blazers at home this Sunday, with the men taking on the Echuca Pirates in a standalone fixture on Saturday night.
