IT was another tough weekend for the Swan Hill Flyers, both the men’s and women’s teams falling at home to the Mildura Heat on Sunday afternoon.
The women were far from disgraced against the fourth-placed Heat, going down by just 10 points, 73-63.
In fact, if not for a lacklustre opening quarter, it may have been a different story, having fallen behind 21-11 early.
From then on, the Flyers managed to stick with Mildura for the bulk of the game, except for another short passage of play in the final term, when the Heat blew their lead out to 20 points.
The Flyers fought back once again, however, going a seven-point run to drag the margin back to 13 with just under five minutes remaining, but were unable to bring it back to single figures.
Flyers coach Tess Denham was left to rue her team’s slow start.
“Our first quarter I felt we started off well, but then we had a bit of a lapse late, which cost us dearly in the end,” Denham told The Guardian.
“We had a couple of little patches of play where we just lost our way a bit, but when the margin got out to 20 points, I was pleased that we stuck at it and pulled it back.
“We had close to a full squad, which made subbing easier and allowed us to stay fresh and run the floor.
“I think we caught them off guard with our speed up and down the court, to the point where they were forced to call a timeout to try and halt our momentum.
“But as soon as we started to get going and gained the momentum, we were up and about and the crowd started to get involved too, which always helps.
“We got close, but we probably weren’t as consistent across the four quarters and allowed them to score the easy baskets at times, which was frustrating.”
Both Demi Hallam (24 points) and Zoe Morris (20 points) were welcome additions to the line-up, with Denham signalling out Morris as playing a key role.
“Having Zoe in made a huge impact on our game, its nice to have experienced players out on the court such as her and Demi,” Denham said.
“Her height and strength under the basket and her whereabouts of where the basket is, is very beneficial for us.”
It was a similar result for the Swan Hill men’s side, who also walked away empty handed, the Heat claiming a 43-point win.
Mildura extended their lead at every change, with their height and experience telling in the final 113-70 result.
Lachlan Gardner led the scoring for the Flyers, posting 19 points, while Lachlan Somerville worked hard up and down the court in transition to score 14 points.
Henry Thompson (11) and Oscar Gale (10) were the only other Flyers to reach double figures.
The Flyers will hit the road next weekend for double-header weekends against the Kyneton Tigers and Melton Thoroughbreds.
