Posted on 26 March, 2012

Saturday night saw both the Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras and the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras win by four points over Ballarat.

In their first game for Season 2012 the Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras were keen to begin their season with a win, they began the game strongly shooting at 55.6% from the field and taking a seven point lead into the quarter time break. Hayley Moffatt led the scoring with seven opening quarter points.

The second term saw the Swinburne Lady Cobras struggle with accuracy (35% FG) which allowed Ballarat to bring the margin to just three points at half time. Ballarat brought their game up a notch in the third outscoring Kilsyth by eight points on the back of some fantastic defensive work which restricted the Swinburne Lady Cobras ability to get shots up. Ballarat went into the last quarter with a five point lead, 49-44.

The last quarter seemed to be all Ballarat’s as they raced away to an 11 point lead with just under five minutes left on the clock, however the Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras were not going to be disposed of that easily, fighting their way through to get themselves within just three points with under a minute left on the clock thanks to a clutch shot from captain Chantella Perera.

The home crowd was on the edge of their seats willing their team on, when new recruit Kristen Barnes showed everyone just how good she can be by dropping a clutch three pointer with just 16 seconds left on the clock to take the game into overtime.

With the game in to OT it was going to be a test of who wanted the ball most, both Kilsyth and Ballarat traded baskets with scores still all locked up with two and a half minutes left on the clock. Kilsyth made the most of their opportunities under the basked continuously drawing the foul to ensure that they finished the game on top, defeating Ballarat 70 – 66.

In her first game as captain Chantella Perera led from the front with a double double (20pts, 11rbds & 5as), Hayley Moffatt (17pts, 7rbds) Gemma Kerr (12pts) also made double figures while Kristen Barnes(9pts, 9rbds, 2as)  in her first game in Kilsyth colours showed her worth.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras face arch rivals the Knox Raiders next Saturday night 31 March at Knox, tip-off is at 6.00pm, before returning home on Sunday to face Sandringham, tip-off is at 12.30pm on Hugh McMenamin Court.

With the women’s game going into overtime the men were ready and waiting to take the court, in a tightly contested first quarter Ballarat took the early advantage leading by four points at the first break, 23-19.

The second quarter saw Ballarat make the most of all their opportunities taking a 10 point lead early before Kilsyth brought their lead back to just two points; however Ballarat again pushed their lead out to 10 before Matthew Cromarty and Tim Lang shot truly at the line to reduce the deficit to just seven points at half time.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras got the rev up at half time that they needed coming out in the third determined to finish the game strongly. Shooting at 55.6% from the field and 100% from the free throw line the Swinburne Cobras turned the half time deficit into a 6 point lead going into the last, outscoring Ballarat 27-14.

Ballarat started the last intent on taking down the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras; with four minutes played they had managed to take the lead by one, before a Matt O’Hea basket gave the lead back to Kilsyth. The Swinburne Cobras pushed out their lead to five with just under two minutes of play left until Shaun Bruce dropped to baskets to have Ballarat just one point behind with just 48 seconds left on the clock.

With the crowd again on the edges of their seats, Zach Malvik and Matt O’Hea pulled the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras to victory, the game ending with Kilsyth four points in front.

In his first game for Kilsyth in 2012 Tim Lang showed that his time with the Melbourne Tigers paid off finishing the game with a double double, 24pts, 14rbds, for the second week running Garfield Blair top scored with 25 points, 7 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Matt O’Hea (13pts, 3rbds) and Zach Malvik (11pts) also reached double figures.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras take on arch rivals the Knox Raiders next Saturday night 31 March at Knox, tip-off is at 8.00pm, before returning home on Sunday to face Sandringham, tip-off is at 2.30pm on Hugh McMenamin Court.