By JARROD POTTER
TAKING the hard road to victory, Casey Cavaliers had to sprint home to triumph 71-69 over an impressive North East Bushrangers line-up.
Trailing 51-59 heading into the final term, the Cavaliers’ women had their backs to the wall as the Bushrangers surged through Rachel Jeffrey (27 points) and Stacey Browne (16 points).
Casey locked down defensively to give the visitors nothing but bad looks at the basket – resulting in a five-minute deadlock where the Bushrangers couldn’t score.
On the other end, Casey found its long-range game as Lara Pauline started the quarter with the first trey.
Missing chances to go ahead, Casey had to battle as North East resumed its scoring to resume the lead with less than a minute remaining.
It came down to Cavaliers forward/centre Jess Szalek. Finding previously unafforded room outside the perimeter, Szalek’s shot flew through for the crucial three-pointer to go ahead by a point with seconds left.
One of the last North East shots – a pair of free throws with 26 seconds remaining – failed to drop and Casey was able to extract a foul and take the two-point win.
Captain Amy Mcfarlane hit 16 points with Szalek (14 points, 9 rebounds) and Lara Pauline (11 points) while Cassie Bridge (11 points) picked up season high points.
“For us in that one was to calm down,” Casey coach Tim Parker said.
“The end of our third we knew then Bushrangers would come out hard in that third, they’ve had a bit of a write up in Big V about their third quarter fade, so we knew they’d come out hard and they did.
“It was about calming down, doing the things we do well and slowly grinding our way back into the game.”
The Cavaliers men struggled much less in a 72-46 walkover of the Bushrangers.
Closely held in the first half – with a 29-22 lead – Stewart Baird’s cavalry charged to knock down 43 points in the second half to run out 26 point winners. Strong showings came from Matt Pebole (19 points, 8 rebounds) and Matt Witherden (13 points, 17 rebounds) while Brandon Paris brought down the house with his first shot this season – drilling a three-pointer to seal the win.
Casey’s three teams now host Coburg in a Saturday night triple-header starting at 4.30pm with the Youth men.
