THE Albury-Wodonga Lady Bandits showed off some impressive resilience yesterday to defeat the Sandringham Lady Sabres, 70-67, and keep their genuine SEABL play-off aspirations alive.
Led by co-captain Lisa Wallbutton and guard Alex Duck, the Lady Bandits bounced back from a 31-point mauling at the hands of Knox on Saturday night with a gritty win.
The three-point victory was the Border club’s seventh win of the season and kept the Lady Bandits in the sixth and final play-off spot, a half-game ahead of the Ballarat Lady Miners.
But it was a close-run thing, with the hosts storming back from an 11-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to just three points before the Lady Bandits managed to hold on for a crucial victory.
Wallbutton scored 25 points and hauled down 13 rebounds, with Duck and Toni Edmondson also key contributors with 16 and 13 points apiece
Lady Sabres star Nat Porter led all scorers with 35 points but had little support, with only 11 points from fellow WNBL player Mikaela Dombkins.
It was an entirely different story on Saturday, with a rampant Raiders outfit destroying the Lady Bandits by the lop-sided score of 78-47.
Raiders stars Ashlee Dunlap, Emily Fryters and Rachel Waterhouse combined to outscore the entire Lady Bandits roster with only Wallbutton and Edmondson, with 19 and 12 points respectively, providing any resistance.
Lady Bandits coach Ken Kereama said he was delighted with the fortitude shown by his players to defeat the Lady Sabres, especially after the events of Saturday night.
“That was definitely a very good win for us,” Kereama said.
“I think putting Ellie Gleeson on Nat Porter was a key decision from (assistant coach) Lisa Townsend, she did a fantastic job of slowing down her scoring and the rest of the girls did a great job in pressuring the ball.
“We were able to string three or four defensive stops together and then at the other end we executed really well.
“I think to the girls’ credit, they really bounced back well from a touch-up the night before to Knox.
“They did well to win a game that at one point looked like they could’ve lost, as Sandringham really made a big run late.”
Wallbutton said the team was rapt to head home with their top-six position intact.
“We really needed to beat Sandringham after the Knox loss, so it was good to do that, even if we did almost throw it away in the end,” Wallbutton said yesterday.
“The Knox game was just terrible, we got absolutely pumped, which wasn’t exactly how we wanted to play against them but to come out after that and get a win was really good.
“We shook it off really well and came out and played totally differently against Sandringham, we just played really well as a team, we moved the ball well and hit our shots.”
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