ALBURY-Wodonga Lady Bandits coach Michael Brookens slammed the standard of officiating after the club’s 79-56 SEABL road loss to the Brisbane Lady Spartans on Saturday night.
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Brookens said the referees were “pretty average” after the Spartans enjoyed a 31-9 free throw margin and 31-17 foul count.
Early foul trouble to forward Teyla Evans and import centre Ali Bouman meant the Lady Bandits always struggled for consistent offensive options.
“That really put a strain on our offence,” Brookens said of the foul count.
“We have to find a way to defend without fouling.
“In all honesty, I thought the officiating was pretty average all night.
“It’s disappointing because the referees looked after Brisbane’s players and we didn’t get the same level of care when we had the ball.
“Just a lot of cheap and unnecessary fouls from the start, not very good calls.
“When we’re trying to come back, there just wasn’t a lot of petrol in the tank.”
Despite the early foul trouble, the Lady Bandits made a decent fist of it, trailing by just three points at quarter-time.
But a 20-12 second quarter ensured the Lady Spartans held a comfortable lead that was rarely threatened from there.
Albury-Wodonga was led by Montana Farrah-Seaton’s 16 points off the bench, while import forward Kristina Baltic posted 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists but also coughed up the ball seven times as the Lady Bandits were charged with a horrible 28 turnovers.
For Brisbane, Sarah Graham’s 18 points paced an offensive attack that enjoyed five players notch double-digit totals.
With the Lady Bandits having lost three straight games by heavy margins since defeating Ballarat, Brookens admitted his team simply needed to better protect the ball.
“I think a lot of it comes down to taking one-on-one battles more personally,” Brookens said.
“At both ends of the court, it wasn’t until the third quarter that we started attacking.
“I’m disappointed because it was a really good opportunity for us but it’s also hard to gauge because of the foul trouble to Ali and Teyla.
“Turnovers are still a huge problem. We have to value the ball better.
“Effort isn’t an issue but teams know they can pressure us and we’re just not consistent in how we handle that right now.”
