Wildcats Split Road Trip Double-Header

by noelrr
13/05/2012

The Parramatta Basketball Association has split their away games against the Manly Warringah Basketball Association, on Saturday night in Warriewood, in Round Seven of the 2012 Waratah Championship League (WCL) competition. The winless Wildcats women's team fielded just seven fit players on the night, putting themselves at an even bigger disadvantage against the competition-leading Sea Eagles women. In spite of a spirited first quarter effort from the young Wildcats, once the foul count escalated it was all clear sailing for the Sea Eagles, who cruised to a 89-33 win. Josie Taoi led the Wildcats with 10 points and 8 boards, whilst Bernadette Makhlouf had 10 boards and Amanda Mitchell 8 points. The Wildcats men were also under-strength at the start of their game against the Sea Eagles men, with four players delayed in traffic and not arriving at the game until the second quarter. Ironically, coach Tait credited the late appearance of the four players to his team's success on the night, with the bench players having to rise to the occasion in the first quarter. The Wildcats defied the odds to lead 21-20 at the end of the first term and held that advantage to lead 37-35 at half time. Sydney Kings NBL point guard Luke Cooper was proving to be a thorn in the Wildcats side but even his seemingly tireless efforts could not lift the Sea Eagles in the second half, as the Wildcats surged further ahead, eventually winning 92-79 Shooting guard Adi Causevic led the Wildcats with 22 points, whilst Goran Veg had 14 points and 19 boards, Jed Atherton 14 points and Jamie Newth 11). Cooper led the Sea Eagles effort with 29 points, 7 steals and 5 assists. This weekend's games against the Sutherland Sharks (in Sutherland) would appear at first glance to be contests for the wooden spoon - in both the men's and women's divisions. Coach Tait however refuses to consider his men's team will stay in the competition cellar and is targeting at least four wins for his team by the end of the first round of competition and twelve by the end of the regular season. "We didn't have any mental lapses today" said Tait - in reference to the Parramatta men. "I focussed on that during training this week and the team responded". "We didn't drop our intensity throughout the game and our spacing was better on offence" said Tait. "We had nineteen genuine turnovers, which is a huge improvement on our earlier games this season". PHOTO: Jed Atherton was one of Parramatta's leading scorers against the Sea Eagles - photo by Noel Rowsell (www.photoexcellence.com.au) Apologies if the photo does not load, as the site administrator is still experiencing problems. The photo can also be viewed in the Media Gallery on the PhotoExcellence website.

Report Post