The Ararat Redbacks put in a solid performance in the Country Basketball League South West conference season opener but fell short of the Geelong Supercats on Saturday night.
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The home team was brave but fell short of Geelong at the final whistle 39-85 at the newly renovated Ararat Fitness Centre. Ararat started in a positive manner, scoring the first basket of the game through Megan Freeman before the visitors responded and took the lead. The Redbacks struggled to match the Supercats from the midway point of the quarter, as the visitors started to increase their scoring to extend the lead out to seven points after a dominant period late in the first term.
Ararat’s Zanetta Hosking sunk a basket with six seconds remaining in the first quarter to narrow the deficit to nine points at the first break. Delaney McLoughlan got the home team going again in the second term, scoring the first points of the second quarter before Geelong again responded with a dominant patch which included 10 unanswered points to open up a 31-14 lead over the Ararat team. The visitors continued to stretch out the margin, as they went into half time leading Ararat 41-21.
The third quarter started much the same way with Geelong’s Lauren Bellegante sinking three three-pointers in a two-minute period to stretch the lead out to 30 points and making an first victory for Ararat unlikely.
But to the team’s creadit, the Redbacks continued fighting and were able to claw back some points late in the third term to go into the three-quarter time huddle trailing 30 points to 70.
The Redbacks continued to try and create offensive chances but started to fatigue and run out of legs, as the Supercats pressed on late in the game.
The visitors scored 10 of the last 11 points of the match to easily account for the Ararat team by 46 points.
McLoughlan topscored for the Redbacks with 19 points in a positive sign for the young player while Freeman was able to sink six points for the home team. It was an even spread for Geelong with Georgia Varley scoring 17 points while Bellegante finished with 15 and Breella Case also scored in double figures with 10.
The Redbacks will have a week to bounce back before their first road trip to take on the Kookas on Sunday. Tip-off is set for noon at the Bluewater Leisure Centre at Colac.
