The Swan Hill Flyers men’s team had their finals hopes extinguished at the weekend, with a 34-point loss to the Bendigo Braves on Saturday night all but ending their playoff hopes.
It was an entertaining start to the game, with neither team giving an inch throughout the opening period, with the scores locked at 22-all at quarter time.From that point on, Bendigo took control, dominating the key and shutting down the Flyers offensive weapons in both the second and third quarters, outscoring Swan Hill 53 to 23 to take a thirty-point lead into the final break.
Although the Flyers fought back in the final term, the damage was done, with the Braves running away with a 94 to 60 win.
Steven Bowden led the scoring for Swan Hill with 16 points, while Hugh Broad was the only other Flyer to register double figures with 11 points of his own.It wasn’t all bad news for the Flyers on the weekend however, with the men’s team finishing off the weekend with a 14-point win on Sunday over the Castlemaine Cannons.
Much like the night before, the Flyers jumped out of the blocks with a strong opening quarter, outscoring the Cannons by 13-points to quarter time.
Although the start may have been similar to the loss against Bendigo, the Flyers didn’t let their foot off the accelerator, outscoring Castlemaine 18-11 in the second period to take a 20-point lead into half time.
A 16-point third quarter all but sealed the victory for the Flyers – and although the Cannons fought back in the last period, the game was all but over, with Swan Hill running out convincing 14-point winners – 65 to 51.
While the men’s team came away from the weekend with a one and one record, the same couldn’t be said for the Lady Flyers, who endured a tough weekend with heavy losses to both the Bendigo Lady Braves and Castlemaine Cannons.
The Lady Flyers were missing a number of the key players for both games, including Demi Wall and Laura Anderson – eventually losing to the Lady Braves by 53-points (102-49) and the Cannons by 50-points (104-54).
