A SEASON of development for the Swan Hill Flyers women’s team in the CBL North West drew to a close on Sunday, when they suffered a 48-point loss to ladder leaders Kyneton.
The Tigers dominated the match from the opening minutes to hold an 18-point lead at quarter-time, before the visitors outscored the Flyers by 28 points in the second half in the 104-56 result.
Although the scoreboard may not have been in their favour, Flyers coach Adam Kerr still took positives, including the team’s second quarter.
“(Kyneton) were bigger than last time, and they played a zone for a fair bit of the game and we’ve struggled at times right throughout the season with zones,” Kerr said.
“Because they were so big and they zoned the length, they took up a lot of space and we struggled to get through that.
“I felt we were still competitive, and we stuck with them in the second quarter and throughout parts of the last, but when they were in that zone, we really didn’t do a good job of penetrating and getting the ball into the paint, which was unfortunate.
“The scoreboard wasn’t reflective of the way we played. The girls were really competitive at times and we were a bit unlucky with a couple of fouls, every time we seemed to foul them they were going up under the ring, but I wasn’t too disappointed with the way we finished our season.”
Among Swan Hill’s better players were Shaylea Kerr (14 points) and Karla Allen (12 points), who were the only Flyers to register double figures.
The pair were both singled out for praise by Kerr after being among Swan Hill’s most consistent players all season, along with Scarlet Grey.
“Karla (Allen) and Shaylea (Kerr) were pretty good today, without having looked at the stats I reckon they would have been up there with our better scorers and defensively they were probably a class above the rest,” Kerr said.
“It’s been a bit like that throughout the season, and you can throw Scarlet (Grey) into that mix as well, they’ve been the core contributors this year.
“It was good to see them finish the season off well and they were both sensational, and Karla’s family made the trip down from Mildura, so it was probably even more special and a good reward for all her hard work.
“(Karla) is a bit of a leader among the group and gets the girls going and is well liked among the playing group, so I was really happy to see her finish her year like that.”
In what was always going to be a year of development given the age profile of their roster, Kerr was happy with his team’s season, which ended with just one win from 10 games, but had some very competitive losses against strong opposition.
“It’s a little bit sad that it’s all over, but we’ve been really good for at least half a game in just about every game, and we’ve been really competitive for a lot of the season,” Kerr said.
“There’s a lot of positives, if we look at the fact that Lyla (Morton) has started to get a few minutes and was really good again today, Arna (Carroll) got on the floor again, Kieley (Styles) played, Scarlet (Grey) is only 15 and Ava (Crow) is only 16, there is going to be a huge upside to this group over the next few seasons.
“Playing with a lot of kids at this level makes me feel as though it’s definitely a win for the season and moving forward into next year, hopefully we’ll be in a lot better position because there’s some more good kids coming through.
“If you take the ladder away, it’s been a real positive year for the girls and the direction that we’re heading in.”
