Hobart’s scorers dominated the first half of the South East Australian Basketball League round eight clash at the Derwent Entertainment Centre to lead by nine at half-time. 

But Ballarat Skoda Rush turned the game on its head in the third term, scoring 30 points while restricting the Chargers to just 11, to take a 10-point buffer into the final quarter.

While Hobart made a late charge in the fourth term, Rush withstood the pressure to secure a five-point victory over the home team, 87-82.

Burke (playing under her Taiwanese name Hsi-Le Bao) equal top scored with a double-double of 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Rinaldi (20 points) Courtney Walker (16 points) and Taylah Wynne (13 points) all reached double figures.

Rush coach Eric Hayes said he was proud of the team’s effort, particularly in the second half.

“They just pulled together, they just went out and battled and they did a really nice job,” he said.

“They worked really hard to give themselves a chance to win.”

The team used the half-time break to refocus on how to defensively limit the Chargers’ main scorers. 

While Hobart’s Brittany Smart, Sharna Thompson and Kathleen Scheer had about 40 points between them in the first half, Rush managed to restrict their output to almost half that amount after the break. 

“We just talked about not breaking down, knowing who the main scorers were, staying a little bit closer to them and those who weren’t guarding the main scorers were coming off ready to help,” Hayes said.

“So it was making sure we played some really good team defence on those quality players.”

Offensively, Rush was also more efficient, making more shots and moving the ball well. 

Hayes said Rinaldi and Burke, who played the most minutes for Rush, had worked really hard to achieve some strong numbers.

“They are a couple of our fittest players, so they get up and down and they run and they work… they’re physical,” he said.

“But everybody that stepped on the court did some really nice things… every little bit was important even if they played just a short amount of time.”

Molly Mathews arrived in time for the game after taking the later flight from Melbourne to Tasmania with the Ballarat Miners team.

“She had about seven minutes warm-up time when she got out onto the floor,” Hayes said. 

“But we didn’t rush to get her on the court, we just let her get her bearings and work her way into it.”

Hayes was excited by Rush’s brand of basketball and hoped it would continue.