Sport
24 November, 2022
Do or die for Blazers with finals on the line
The Maryborough Blazers’ finals campaign has started early, with their men’s and women’s teams needing to win this week to guarantee post-season basketball action. Both teams will be playing the Swan Hill Flyers on Saturday night at the...
The Maryborough Blazers’ finals campaign has started early, with their men’s and women’s teams needing to win this week to guarantee post-season basketball action.
Both teams will be playing the Swan Hill Flyers on Saturday night at the Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre, with the Lady Blazers expected to win against a Flyers side that has won just one game all season long.
The men’s Blazers team will need to be up for the fight against a Flyers side that has been better than their 2-5 record suggests, having lost four of their games by under 10 points.
The Blazers were unable to take a win in both of their double headers last weekend, with Bendigo and Mildura proving too strong.
However, there were some positives from both teams over the weekend.
The Lady Blazers were able to welcome three young talents into their squad over the weekend, with Zali Linton, Ella Patten and Paige Walkley in the squad. Linton and Patten took their chances against Bendigo on Saturday night, scoring four and two points respectively for their first Blazers’ points.
Playing-coach Claire Blower continued her outstanding season, scoring 44 points across both games. However, the reality for the Lady Blazers was that they weren’t able to get enough scoring power over the weekend, with Blower and Maddy Egan combining for 43 of their 57 points in their loss against Mildura.
Meantime, on the men’s side of the draw, despite two frustrating losses, there were some positives from relatively new names in the team.
Bailey Jacobs had his best game with the Blazers on Saturday night, scoring 25 points, while Kya Lanfranchi impressed on Sunday, scoring 12 points and taking a slew of offensive rebounds, while the ever-consistent Lachlan Drummond and Brady Neill put up double-digit point totals in both games.
Young Ky Swards was also able to step up and control the pace of play on Sunday afternoon after first-choice point guard Rhys Brown went down with injury, and showed he can cut it at the level, and should look to get more playing time.
Both teams will know that a win will be followed by a roadtrip to open their finals series, with the men’s team looking likely to travel to Melton to open their finals campaign, or a shorter trip to Castlemaine if Mildura loses both their weekend games.
Meantime, a win for the Lady Blazers will not change their position on the ladder — they will either be playing Bendigo or Kyneton in week one if they are successful on Saturday night.
However, a loss for both Blazers’ teams could spell the end of their season, and would need to rely on results going their way to maintain their spot in the top four. In the women’s division, fifth-placed Melton Thoroughbreds play Mildura Heat, while sixth-placed Bacchus Marsh are arguably the bigger threat, as they play the 1-3 Echuca Pirates.
For the men’s team, a loss would mean they need to rely on Swan Hill backing up and beating the fifth-placed Braves, while the sixth-placed Macedon Ranges Rockies could theoretically make it with a big win over Kyneton.
