By JARROD POTTER
SEABL – ROUND 15
DANDENONG shook the Supercats’ resolve on Saturday evening with an epic 80-78 come-from-behind victory.
Playing on unfriendly turf in Geelong, the Rangers ensured they would ruin the party even more to take win number 11 and bunch up the top seeds ahead of the final few weeks of the home-and-away season.
Trailing 58-65 at the last break, Dandenong rallied to negate the Supercats’ top offensive weapons – halting Kimmani Barrett and Eric Gaff in the dying minutes.
Coach Darren Perry left it to his star four – as Daequon Montreal (22 points, 7 rebounds), Andrew Harms (16 points, 7 assists), Lucas Walker (15 points) and Chuck Long (15 points) relished another nail-biter.
Perry’s men sit one win away from the top of the SEABL East Conference with three rounds to play, making for an exciting finish to the home-and-away season.
The Rangers’ women waltzed past second-ranked Geelong taking a 96-59 win on the back of supreme efforts via Tenaya Phillips (20 points), Faith Probst (14 points, 12 rebounds) and on her return to the line-up after a three-month lay-off Amelia Todhunter (13 points).
The Rangers women only need one win from their final four to stitch up top seed in the SEABL East.
The Rangers will host Ballarat on Sunday afternoon (After the Journal went to press).
BIG V – ROUND 18
The Cougar call couldn’t contain Coburg as The Keysborough womens’ season ended with a gallant 75-102 defeat.
The Cougars couldn’t knock over Coburg, despite a superhuman effort from Billie Lucas – who rattled off a season-high 41 points to go with 13 rebounds.
With support from Emily Rider (13 points, 9 rebounds) and Ashleigh Wright (7 points), the Cougars held on for dear life, but couldn’t halt the final’ bound Giants.
Keysborough women ended their second BIG V Division-2 season with a much improved record – finishing the home-and-away season in eighth place with a 5-11 record under first year coach Craig Smethurst.
Billie Lucas is one of the top candidates for the Division’s MVP award, finishing the season with a league-leading 328 points as she averaged 20.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game as well as prominent numbers for total rebounds (155), free throws made (75) and total steals (39).
Also topping the BIG V tables from Keysborough was Emily Rider – who had the most defensive rebounds in the division with 111.
Keysborough men played Coburg on Sunday afternoon (after the Journal went to print).
