FOR those who have seen the Lady Hornets play a game of basketball recently, they might have heard the raucous cheering of a dedicated group of supporters.
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Dubbed the Hornbags, the cheer squad has been by the Lady Hornets’ side across the past few seasons.
They have ridden the highs of a Country Basketball League premiership without the training toil and niggling injuries.
Bianca Mibus, dubbed the ‘Head Hornbag’, said the group’s rise was unexpected.
“It’s kind of snowballed,” she said.
“We have a few really close friends who play in the Hornets team, so we went along to support them.
“Then all of a sudden we started going to away games and we started getting a bit louder. Then the crew got a little bit bigger and we realised that it was bigger than what we thought it was.”
When Lady Hornets coach Gareth Hiscock named the group the Hornbags, there was no looking back.
“There are a few of us loud supporters and Gareth encourages us to get rowdy,” Mibus said.
Mibus fondly remembers one game in particular.
It’s all down to us. When we aren’t there, they aren’t on-song.
- Bianca Mibus
It was the 2015-16 preliminary final and the team and its support group had travelled to Mount Gambier for the do-or-die encounter.
“The Hornets won to get into the grand final in Mount Gambier,” Mibus said.
“Gareth said he has never heard a crowd become so loud when the actual stadium is so empty. The players actually couldn’t hear Gareth in a time-out, because we were so loud.
“He believes that the Hornets wouldn’t have won without our support.”
Along with the victories, Mibus said the Hornbags had forged some special friendships with the players.
“We’ve become quite close with all the other players. They are pretty much family,” she said.
The Hornbags have even created their own merchandise and have trialled the use of face masks to put-off opposition players.
“We have T-shirts made up for the squad and a couple weeks ago we made face masks of Ema Iredell,” Mibus said. “Ema tends to go a bit red in the face so we decided to print her face and put it on cardboard and send it to everyone in the crowd, to make her a bit embarrassed.”
So how much of the Lady Hornets’ success can be put down to the harmonious Hornbags?
“It’s all us, 100 per cent,” Mibus said.
“I feel like they wouldn’t be where they are without us. I feel like Gareth knows it, too, but he doesn’t like to tell the players like that.
“It’s all down to us. When we aren’t there, they aren’t on-song.”
