It's was a tough weekend for the Ballarat Miners in Tasmania with the club picking up just one win from the four matches played to leave both teams in delicate position on the NBL1 South table.
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The women's team struggled to get its attack going throughout both games, scoring just 61 and 65 points in losses to Launceston and Hobart.
Chloe Bibby proved to be a lone-hand in offence hitting 24 points on Friday night before backing up with 27 on Saturday.
On Friday night the Miners had no answer to their long-time nemesis Keely Froling, who dominated with 31 points and 11 rebounds in an 18-point defeat. Froling has long been a thorn in the side of Miners teams and once again proved to be the difference in an otherwise fairly even contest.
On Saturday, the match was more ebb-and-flow with both sides having periods of dominance, the home side just getting the points in the last minute of the contest.
The men dropped their first match of the weekend, losing their heartbreaker of the year by just three points with Tyler Rudolph top-scoring with 22 points.
But on Saturday they rebounded strongly, even with Rudolph relatively held with just 11 points, Majok Majok stood up with 22 points, while Nicholas Stoddart had a great weekend with 19 points in both games.
Saturday's 99-79 win was built on the back of strong defence with Majok also adding 10 rebounds and impressively shooting eight from 13 from the field.
The women's team sits 2-4 from its six matches played and will need to start winning consistently with three more trips on the road to come in the next four matches starting with a trip to Keilor next Saturday night.
The men are in a slightly better position at 4-2 with both losses having been at the death. In what is proving to be a very even season, the 4-2 is actually the equal best in the competition, but the team remains in fifth on the ladder.
Like the women's team, the next three weeks will be crucial to the men's season. If they can pick up three wins from the four matches, starting with Keilor, it will give them a huge boost for a run of home games in the second half of the season.
SCOREBOARDS
WOMEN
Ballarat Miners 61 (C Bibby 24, M Simpson 13) def by Launceston 79 (K Froling 31, T Oliver 24)
Ballarat Miners 65 (C Bibby 27, A Wehrung 17) def by Hobart 72 (J Janson 26, C Walker 16)
MEN
Ballarat Miners 95 (T Rudolph 22, N Stoddart 19) def by NW Tasmania 98 (T Armstrong 18, S Sylla 16, S Sweve 16)
Ballarat Miners 88 (M Majok 22, N Stoddart 19) def Hobarrt 79 (J Richards 20)
