- LADY BANDITS: 'The one that got away'

ROLLER-coasters, bungee jumping, elevators, yo-yos and the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

Seeing a pattern here?

The reigning SEABL champion continued its schizophrenic defence of its crown with an emphatic 81-69 win over the Ballarat Miners yesterday.

Less than 48 hours after a nightmare home performance against Canberra, the Bandits ramped up the defensive pressure on the Miners in a classically gritty display.

It wasn’t pretty – neither topped 40 per cent from the field – but it ensured the Border outfit split its weekend and improved its record to a still-shaky 3-6.

A 27-18 second quarter, that included a 12-2 run, ensured the Bandits took a 10-point lead into the second half. They were rarely threatened after that – the Miners never got the lead under double-digits in the final quarter.

Coach Brad Chalmers, while happy with the win, was frustrated with his team’s Jekyll and Hyde tendencies.

“I’m not happy we’re so up and down,” Chalmers said.

“But all you can do is bounce back and we’ve done that, which is really pleasing but it’s frustrating in a way.

“We play this way on the road, under the pump and then at home, we’re in the same situation and we don’t bring it.

“I’m still stoked we got back on the winning list.

“Defensively, we were really good.

“Those little 1 per cent things and all the extra energy, they bought into it today and hopefully we can keep progressing.”

Under-fire guard Eric Vann improved his shooting with a team-high 25 points, including four triples from 10 attempts.

Fellow import Momo Ntumba was his usual solid self with 15 points, nine boards and five blocks while Alex Opacic had 11 points and a game-best 12 rebounds.

Captain Nick Payne – in his record-breaking 303rd appearance for the club – bounced back from a horror display against the Gunners to nail three triples in his 17 points.

For Ballarat, first-year imports Matt Hanson and Keena Young top-scored with 29 and 18 points but only Shaun Bruce (14) provided any real offensive help.

NBL forward Lucas Walker dragged down 11 rebounds but coughed up the ball five times and scored just six points on 2-7 shooting.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s home clash against the Mount Gambier Pioneers, Chalmers said his team had to adopt the same focus and intensity it had mostly displayed on the road over the past fortnight – especially against a Pioneers outfit that inflicted a 98-81 smackdown at the Icehouse to open round five.

“Friday night wasn’t good. Today was fantastic. Now we need to find consistency,” Chalmers said.

“We were like this last week, sitting back after a good road win, trying to get some momentum.

“Realistically, for mine, this was supposed to be a 2-0 weekend. We had a home game against Canberra I thought we should’ve won and a road game I thought we could win.

“So, disappointing but still really proud we bounced back to get a little bit more belief in what we’re doing.

“Mount Gambier next week is a big game and we’re already really focusing on trying to make sure we make some adjustments to the way we played