Former Bandits' captain Emma Mahady courageously fought her way back from a ruptured Achilles to play a vital role in the club's gutsy 18-point win over the country's best youngsters in NBL1 on Friday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mahady posted 14 points in the 93-75 home win over Basketball Australia's Centre of Excellence.
"It was great for us to have Emma Mahady back for her first game," coach Sam McDonald praised.
"Emma ruptured her Achilles about three three weeks after our season finished last year, so has only had 7-8 months off, so it's a pretty amazing performance to be back and she had 14 points, five rebounds and played some good defence as well.
"Emma's a very dedicated athlete and did all the right things to put herself in the position to be back ahead of schedule.
"Both her and Lauren (Jackson), in the space of six months, did their Achilles and they're both back on the floor, operating at an extremely high level."
The CoE launched themselves at the most experienced rivals.
"They really took it to us, it was quite a physical game, they tried to asset their authority and didn't want to back down, they did a great job of trying to disrupt us from what we wanted to do," McDonald suggested.
The Bandits led by eight points at half-time and were able to edge further ahead in the second stanza.
Jackson finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Mikayla Pivec had another triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Bandits backed up at home against reigning champions North Bears on Saturday night and the visitors pounced for an 11-point lead at quarter-time.
"They jumped us, maybe it was a little bit of fatigue from a physical game the night before, but we slowly worked into the game," McDonald said.
By half-time, the home team had a one-point break and a miserly defensive effort in the final quarter, restricting the Bears to only seven, proved the difference in the 75-60 win.
Jackson had 36 points and 19 rebounds, while Pivec had 13 and 10 respectively.
The Bandits lead the East conference with a 5-0 record and will host Illawarra Hawks on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the Bandits men also posted wins.
The home team trailed CoE by nine points at half-time, but produced a stunning 42-point third term to jump to a 10-point lead.
Lochlan Cummings was outstanding with 31 points, Kevion Blaylock had 23, while Will 'Davo' Hickey produced 18 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists in the 99-88 win.
And Hickey was also outstanding in the 88-81 win against Norths Bears.
He fell just short of another triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
The Bandits have now worked their way up to third with a 4-1 record.
