Season heats up for Flyers

BOTH Swan Hill Flyers’ seasons will go on the line this weekend, when the men’s and women’s basketball teams travel north to take on the Mildura Heat on Saturday night.

Both sides will desperate for a win, with the men’s team going down in heartbreaking fashion to Bacchus Marsh last Sunday by three points after leading by 13 at three-quarter time.

As a result, the Flyers find themselves in the bottom half of the ladder in eighth position with just one win from four matches and needing a win on Friday night in order to revive their finals hopes.

Mildura will pose a much sterner test than last week’s opponents. The Heat find themselves in third position in the Country Basketball League North West Division with a 66 per cent winning percentage.

With Mildura in strong form and on their home court, the Flyers will have to bring their A game, particularly their coach Steven Bowden, Lachlan Somerville, Matthew Gardner and last Sunday’s leading scorer Hugh Broad.

The Lady Flyers must also win against the Heat, with the young Swan Hill yet to taste victory this season.

The likely absence of captain and star player Tess Denham could make their task harder. Denham missed last Sunday’s match against Bacchus Marsh with a knee injury.

While the Flyers are yet to secure their first points of the season, they showed a much-improved performance against the Lions last week – particularly in the first half – but as has been the case so far this season, the young Flyers ran out of legs after the half-time break.

If the Flyers can stay in the contest in the second half, then a victory won’t be out of reach against a Mildura side that has just one win from two games played so far this season.

The women’s match will start proceedings at the Hothouse at 6pm, with the men’s fixture to follow at 8pm.