OVERCONFIDENT? Ambushed?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ballarat Rush must again go back and pick apart how its game against Albury-Wodonga fell apart on Saturday night.
Rush lost by 17 points against a largely untried outfit in the South East Australian Basketball League.
But it was not the fact they lost that has Harvey Norman Rush coach Peter Cunningham concerned.
It was how his team lost.
“We were outplayed in every single area – there was no enthusiasm, no teamwork, no hardness, no willingness to work,” Cunningham said.
“Albury-Wodonga outplayed us and deserved to win.”
The Lady Bandits emphatically ended their winless streak in just their fourth game this season and first in almost a month.
Cunningham said the Lady Bandits appeared refreshed and firing from their fixture break.
Pressure was on the Lady Bandits’ stars to perform.
Young Australians Tara Evans (17 points) and Ashton Eaton (nine points, nine rebounds, five assists) were solid, while import Ali Bouman was strong in
her eight points and nine rebounds.
There were good points to the Rush game.
Rush cut an early 11-point deficit from midway through the first quarter to three points by quarter-time and led, briefly and narrowly, early in the second term.
A heavy turnover rate in the first half was kept to three turnovers in the second half.
Abbey Wehrung worked tirelessly and put up 18 points. Molly Mathews continued to build her game with 10 points in 17 minutes.
Cunningham said players were trying – they just did not look like a well-organised team and they did not look well-coached.
Defence was leaky and conceding 88 points was clearly outside Rush’s acceptable standard.
Rush had collectively been expecting to play better coming off their first season win and a great, hard scrimmage session on Thursday night.
The challenge now is to take their game up a whole few notches or risk being embarrassed and exposed against conference powerhouse Dandenong at the MARS Minerdome on Saturday.
Cunningham said his players were only getting out the effort they were putting in.
Players must start working harder for each other.