ALBURY-Wodonga Lady Bandits coach James Ballinger says his struggling squad will need to be at its “absolute best” to be any chance of snapping an eight-game SEABL losing streak tomorrow night.
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The Border club takes on the Geelong Lady Supercats, a team it hasn’t beaten since May 2011.
Geelong is riding a losing run of its own, having dropped the past three games to slip to fifth in the East Conference, half a game behind Brisbane in the final playoff spot.
But Ballinger acknowledged the Lady Supercats’ depth of talent would sorely test Albury-Wodonga.
“We’ll have to be at our absolute best for the full 40 minutes,” Ballinger said.
“Geelong is so talented across the board and incredibly deep.
“For us, it all starts with transition defence.
“They’ve got players all over the court who love to get out and run.
“We weren’t great in transition against them last time and we need to defend the paint better too.”
With the likes of Sara Blicavs, Tayla Roberts, Candice Rogers and former Lady Bandits star Alex Duck leading the way, Geelong’s offensive firepower poses significant problems for the defensively-suspect Lady Bandits.
Albury-Wodonga is giving up more than 93 points per game and Ballinger said that couldn’t continue if the Border outfit expected to notch the second win of its campaign.
“We absolutely can’t be a one-pass offence,” Ballinger said.
“I think we’ve improved since the last time we played them.
“We’ve been better in patches but our inability to do it for 40 minutes is something we continually need to work on.
“If we can hold them under 80 points, that would be ideal.
“We can’t allow second-chance points, we need to limit turnovers and if we can do that, I think we’re headed in the right direction.”
