Posted on 14 May, 2018
The Lady Cobras continued their regular season dominance with a pair of 20-plus point victories in Canberra on the weekend to move to 7-1 on the season.
Kilsyth made light work of the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence on Friday night, defeating the CoE, 46 to 86 on Friday night. A 21-7 opening quarter set the tone for a dominant evening as the Lady Cobras recorded their largest victory margin of the season. Two-time MVP Steph Blicavs led the Lady Cobras with 20 points; reigning MVP Angela Beadle added 14 points and nine rebounds; Chelsea D’Angelo recorded 13 points, Jasmine Gill finished with 12 points and five assists, and Rosie Moult chipped in with 10 points and four steals in the win.
Sam Woosnam’s team was absolutely dominant on both ends of the floor, shooting 51 percent from the field while holding the CoE to just a 30 percent clip on the other end. The 46 points allowed was a season’s best for Kilsyth, with the blowout victory allowing Woosnam to rest her starters for the second night of their road doubleheader.
Saturday’s game against the Canberra Capitals Academy saw the Cobras come out on top with an 84-64 victory, with their MVP combo again doing the bulk of the damage offensively. Blicavs scored a game-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists, with Beadle matching Blicavs in the rebounding and assists departments and adding 15 points of her own in the win. Point guard Taylor Lee provided a spark, finishing with 12 points and four assists, Hope Terdich continued her strong play off the bench as she added 10 points, and Moult and Alison Downie rounded out a strong second unit performance as they combined for 10 assists.
Saturday’s win capped a stellar weekend on both ends of the floor for the Lady Cobras, and marked their fifth consecutive victory. After being shocked at home by Melbourne in Round 3, Woosnam’s team has responded in furious fashion, with their gradual increase in team chemistry resulting in some monstrous victories.
“We are really starting to gel and play better together as a team,” Woosnam said.
“With so many new pieces to our group it is something that is going to take some time, and it’s great to see the girls working together towards the goal we have and putting the team first.”
Though the offence didn’t come as easy for the Lady Cobras on Saturday night, their defence was swarming once again, with Kilsyth holding the Capitals to just 41 points over the final three periods. And holding Canberra to just 64 points meant that the Lady Cobras would record yet another 20-plus point victory margin; their sixth such result in eight games this season.
“Defensively we also made big improvements – this was particularly important on Saturday night as we couldn’t buy a basket in the first half but we were able to control (Canberra) with our defensive efforts,” Woosnam added.
“Two wins on the road was a great result for us, with great contributions from everyone on the team.”
The Lady Cobras 7-1 record is good for second in the league standings, trailing the undefeated Bendigo Braves by one game. They’ll look to continue their winning ways this weekend as they return home to host league newcomers, the Diamond Valley Eagles, on Saturday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 6pm, with the Cobra Men to follow against the Eagles at 8pm.
