THE Ballarat Rush will face one of the SEABL’s biggest challenges on Saturday as the race for a place in the east conference’s top four begins to tighten.
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The Rush came agonisingly close to defeating arch-rivals Bendigo on the road last weekend, however a buzzer-beating shot from Lady Braves spearhead Kelly Wilson put a stop to the Ballarat outfit’s winning streak.
Playing away from home again on Saturday night, the Rush will face the top of the table Nunawading Spectres, who have dropped just three games for the season.
Despite a hiccup against Geelong a fortnight ago, the home side has enjoyed an exceptional run of form which included a hard-fought eight point triumph over Dandenong on the road.
Rush co-captain Kerryn Harrington said while they had failed to take the points against her old club on the weekend , the Rush’s form had not dropped off from their previous wins.
“Confidence is a really important thing, and it comes from wins but it also comes from just playing well,” Harrington said. “We lost but we played really well.”
While a top four finish remains firmly within the sights of the fifth-placed Rush, the value of each contest cannot be underestimated given the evenness across the conference.
Despite Wilson’s clutch shot in the dying moments, the Rush will take confidence from their defensive structure which limited the point guard to just 11 points for the match, a far cry from the 30 points scored in their first round encounter.
They will be hoping to uphold a similar watertight defensive structure against the Spectres, whose dangerwoman Amy Kame is averaging 17 points a game.
“As much as they are the benchmark, we got within 10 points of them in Ballarat and the score was probably not indicative of the game overall,” Harrington said of the Rush’s round eight loss to the Spectres.
Meanwhile the Ballarat Miners will be out to regain their place at second on the SEABL east conference ladder after also being edged out by the Braves.
They face a Nunawading Spectres outfit experiencing an indifferent run of form at seven wins and seven losses from the season.
While the Miners have dropped their past two two matches in the dying minutes, including an overtime loss to Dandenong, they will take some confidence out of the recent form of new recruit James Hunter.
Hunter was the Miners’ leading scorer against the Braves with 23 points, while also gaining nine rebounds. Craig Moller also returned to his defensive best with seven rebounds in his first game back with the club.
