Posted on 18 June, 2018

The Kilsyth Lady Cobras have bounced back with an impressive 2-0 weekend, defeating the Sydney Uni Sparks on the road on Saturday before returning home to blow out the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence on Sunday.

Facing a difficult challenge with forwards Rosie Moult (hand injury) and Alison Downie (away), the Lady Cobras managed to grit out a pair of wins to move back into a tie for second place in the SEABL standings. Lady Cobras coach Sam Woosnam was thrilled with the group’s gutsy weekend performance, one which saw them rebound from a pair of home losses to Nunawading and Bendigo to get back on track heading into the home stretch of the regular season.

“We were really pleased with both wins on the weekend,” Woosnam said.

“It was tough for us with travel and missing Rosie and Alison, but the girls did a great job overall.”

On Saturday night, the Lady Cobras had to overcome an early 14 point hole to defeat the Sparks on the road, riding a key 14-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to win, 67-59. Trailing, 41-47 late in the third period, Angela Beadle sparked the Lady Cobras game-changing run with a pair of baskets inside, with the Kilsyth spurt giving them a 55-47 lead midway through the final stanza. Clinging to a three point lead with just over one minute remaining, Beadle scored again down low off a feed from Hope Terdich to seal an impressive road win for the Cobras.

Beadle’s big second half saw her finishing with game-highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds, Jasmine Gill also added 16 points to go along with eight boards, Steph Blicavs chipped in with 11 points, and Chelsea D’Angelo came up huge in crunch time, scoring eight of her 10 points in the final six minutes of the game.

Woosnam was encouraged by the Lady Cobras second half performance, and is hopeful her team can replicate that toughness and execution moving forward.

“After a slow start against Sydney we came out in the second half and played how we can – and should – each week”

“It’s the business end of the season and it’s exciting because we have such a great roster and things are starting to fall into place.”

Facing a late night trip home from Sydney and quick turnaround to play the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence on Sunday, the Lady Cobras displayed no signs of fatigue against the CoE as they rode a dominant first half to win, 79-63.

Racing out to a 41-25 halftime lead behind 16 points from Blicavs, the Lady Cobras put the CoE away early leading by as many as 26 points in the third period – thanks to 10 quick points from Beadle – to cruise to their tenth win of the season. After struggling from the field the night prior – including an 0-for-9 performance from downtown – the Lady Cobras found their stroke from deep as they shot 7-for-12 from beyond the arc, and a 50 percent clip from the field overall.

Beadle capped a stellar weekend with another game-high scoring outing, finishing with 20 points and eight rebounds, Blicavs added 18 and seven, Sarah Parsons and Taylor Lee each recorded 11 points and seven assists, while Gill chipped in with nine boards and five assists in the win.

At 10-3, Kilsyth moves back into a tie with Nunawading for second place in the league standings, and they’ll look to make it three straight wins this Sunday as they play host to the Geelong Supercats as part of a special SEABL/NWBL tripleheader. The NWBL Cobra Men tip-off proceedings at 9.30am against the Red Dust Heelers in wheelchair hoops action, followed by the SEABL Women and Men squaring-off against the Supercats and 12pm and 2pm, respectively.