Geelong United Supercats were so strong against Nunawading they were able to get deep into the bench after building a huge lead.
Another high scoring first quarter saw the Supercats take a 29-16 lead into the first break,
before extending that lead by 20 points at halftime.
Ella Tofaeono had 11 and 15 Picture: Mark Wilson
Nunawading Spectres star player Alice Kunek was one of only two players scoring in double
figures for the visitors, but with 23 points at halftime Kunek was held to just four more in the
second half in limited minutes.
Polish import Agnieszka Skobel was a standout for the Supercats, the guard connecting on three from six three-point attempts and finishing with 19 points to go with six rebounds, three steals and three assists for an all-round stat line.
It was a team effort on offence for Geelong, with all five starters players scoring in double figures.
Ella Tofaeono pulled down 11 rebounds to go with 15 points, while co-captain Sarah Elsworthy was also impressive, finishing with 13 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals for the game.
Up by 20 points late in the last quarter, the Supercats had the luxury of bringing in their
younger bench players to get some valuable minutes, with head coach Matthew Paton full
of praise for the entire team effort that brought up five wins in a row.
“It’s always nice (to get our younger players court time) – it’s as much a reward and a rest
for the starters as it is a reward for the bench players as well,” said Paton.
“The bench do a lot of hard work behind the scenes. The starters go out and get a lot of accolades, but our bench is just as integral to us being on this (winning) roll, they test those starters at practice week in and week out.”
The Supercats will face Bendigo in a road game this weekend before returning to the
Geelong Arena on Saturday June 3 to host the Knox Raiders.
Hadley leads Supercats again
Gabe Hadley continued his red-hot form with the Geelong United Supercats on Saturday
night, as an emphasis on defence helped secure an important 90-82 victory over the Nunawading Spectres.
Although the Supercats led the game from start to finish, it was a closer contest in the first
half, with Nunawading shooting the ball well from outside, including a buzzer beating three-
pointer from Jalen Gibbs to cut Geelong’s lead to just five points at the main break.
Cracking down on defence was the halftime message from head coach Grant Wallace, with
the Supercats delivering the intensity needed to hold the Spectres to just 11 points in the
third quarter.
Geelong Supercats star Demarcus Gatlin. Picture: Eugene Pitulice
The visitors remained scoreless for the first five minutes of the third term, as the Supercats went an 11-0 run.
Hadley stroked 6-12 three pointers for the match and finished with 33 points, with Demarcus Gatlin also impressive both offensively and defensively – finishing with 19 points to go with 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals.
Liam Herbert had the hot hand along with Hadley, connecting on 4-8 three-point attempts and finishing with 18 points.
Coach Wallace was pleased with his team’s defensive efforts but conceded that the team
needed to play with intensity for the full 40 minutes.
“It was the defensive end we addressed at halftime – I thought we did that for probably 15
of the 20 minutes of the second half. Demarcus and Gabe led that, our defensive rotations
were far better, it was the stuff we wanted to do at the start of the game,” said Wallace.
“We just had (a lapse of) five minutes where we’ll reflect on that. That’s on me too, trying to
get some fresher legs in there, we’ll learn from that and we’ll get better.”