BALLARAT Miners and Rush each face crucial doubles in the South East Australian Basketball League.
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They make the road trip to take on Sandringham on Friday night and then back up against arch-rival Geelong at the Minerdome on Saturday night.
Each is placed to launch finals bids and they are at the point where these need to start now.
The GMHBA Miners sit third in the east conference, but with Canberra, Dandenong and Nunawading hot on the trail of Eric Hayes’ men, anything less than two wins this weekend will weaken their position.
The Sabres are not having a great season in the south conference, but did defeat Ballarat earlier in the campaign. It’s never easy away from home and it will take a mighty effort from Roy Booker, Earnest Ross and Ollie Bailey to ensure they get the result they want.
Booker reached 30 points for the second time of the season against Nunawading on Saturday.
If ever the Miners needed another one of those performances from their main man it is Friday night to ensure they head into the Geelong encounter on a high.
Rush had the better of the south conference’s Sandringham earlier in the year and this is as important as any game Ballarat has had this season after back-to-back losses.
It has not been an easy run, with this being Rush’s fourth away game in a row, but a 2-2 split in this sequence would be enough.
Kristy Rinaldi, Joy Burke, Abby Wehrung, Ashleigh Spencer, Kasey Burton, Molly Mathews and Kerryn Harrington can be as good as combination in the league on their night, and there would be no better time to show that than in Sabre country.
