Posted on 25 June, 2012

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras both came out victorious after their double header game against the Frankston Blues Sunday afternoon at the Kilsyth Sports Centre.  The matchup pinned the Swinburne Lady Cobras as the highly anticipated favourites against a Lady Blues team sitting at the bottom of the ladder with eight consecutive losses and the Swinburne Lady Cobras made good on their odds.  For the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras, their opposition posed a big challenge as both the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras and the Frankston Blues are just a few spots out of the race for playoff contention and each remaining game could be the deciding factor on their position on the ladder at the end of the season.

With some recent line-up changes for the Lady Blues including moving up D-League stand out Carly Chatfield into a starting position for their SEABL squad, the Lady Blues entered the game hoping to end their losing streak.  In the opening quarter, their adjustments seemed to have the desired effect as the Lady Blues found easy looks under the rim to take a 13-9 advantage over the Swinburne Lady Cobras. 

The Swinburne Lady Cobras struggled against the Lady Blues’ post play, which was able to score half of the teams’ points from the paint and outrebounded the Swinburne Lady Cobras 38-30.  Without leading scorer Chantella Perera, the Swinburne Lady Cobras also were out of their offensive rhythm.  The Swinburne Lady Cobras were down by six early in the second quarter before fighting back behind the shooting of Hayley Moffatt and Kristen Barnes to take a 23-22 advantage at halftime. 

After a low scoring first half, the Swinburne Lady Cobras came out strong in the third quarter and finally found the target to put some points on the board.   Back to back three point baskets by Gemma Kerr and Chelsea Burns spurred a scoring run which carried over into the final period of play.  Tightening up their defence, the Swinburne Lady Cobras were able to hold the Lady Blues to just ten points in the fourth quarter to win the game 60-45.  Kristen Barnes led the team with 16 points and seven rebounds Hayley Moffatt scored 14 points and also grabbed seven boards.

The Swinburne Lady Cobras head to Dandenong this Saturday 30 June 2012 to face the Lady Rangers with tip off at 5:30pm.  Their next home game is Saturday 7 July 2012 against Launceston with 6:15pm tip off.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras were anxious to repeat their efforts from last weekend and grab another win in the 2012 SEABL season.  It was a slow start for the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras, despite good efforts on the offensive end.  The Frankston Blues were able to match each basket with one of their own and controlled the boards, gaining multiple second chance scoring opportunities to take a 18-15 lead at the end of the first period.

The tempo swung to the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras’ favour in the second quarter, allowing them to go on a 16-8 run.  Garfield Blair converted on his jump shot attempts while big men Auryn Macmillan and Tim Lang muscled to get open under the rim.  With a balanced attack, the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras were able to pull ahead and went into the halftime break up 31-26.

The third quarter was dead even between the two teams.  Matt O’Hea hit the team’s only three point basket in the period and Zach Malvik hit key shots to maintain the five point lead.  The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras were able to force the Blues into 12 of their 19 turnovers in the second half which led to transition scores by Malvik and Blair.  Their efforts were finally rewarded in a dominant 21-12 fourth quarter performance by the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras. 

With 14 assists and 50% field goal shooting, it was a true team effort that allowed the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras to triumph over the Blues.  Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras’ starting five put in big minutes throughout the game and imports Garfield Blair and Zach Malvik again put on great scoring performances with 24 points and 16 points respectively.  Tim Lang controlled the board with 12 rebounds to tip the rebound margin in the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras’ favour by seven.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras head to Dandenong this Saturday 30 June 2012 to face the Rangers with tip off at 7:30pm.  Their next home game is Saturday 7 July 2012 against NW Tasmania with 8:15pm tip off.