By JARROD POTTER
SUNDAY just wasn’t Casey Cavaliers’ day as everything went wrong against Keysborough – the Cougars claiming a 66-58 Big V Division-2 Women’s win.
Their Sunday clash was marred by foul troubles, sick guards and the Cougars firing out of the blocks quickly.
At one stage in the second term the Cavaliers trailed by 18, had two starters on four fours and were staring down the barrel of a huge loss.
Coach Tim Parker’s charges rallied through the third – restricting the free-flowing passes that let Keysborough guard Billie Lucas (29 points) rally to 23 by the main break.
They also punched through the key a lot harder as Tarryn Wilkin (17 points, 12 rebounds) took hold of the game at both ends.
Casey’s defence started to worry Keysborough as the deficit narrowed in the second half – point-by-point, steal-by-steal.
Parker put his foul-burdened starters back on in the fourth and Rebecca Magdich (9 points) and Jess Szalek (4 points) ratcheted up the pressure on the Cougars further.
The coach’s final act in hope was to bring back his crook shooting guard Sammie Johnson (4 points, 5 rebounds) to provide a spark. The gambit worked as the Cavaliers hit the front in the dying minutes – as Szalek hit a field goal to take a 55-54 lead.
From there in the last three minutes Keysborough regained control and pushed through the winning points at the foul line.
“These girls are great,” Casey coach Parker said.
“They’ll never stop fighting and unfortunately, having one of your players crook as a dog and unable to play the majority of the game and four on four fouls doesn’t help your cause.
“That’s something we’ll go back and work on and come out ready to go next week.”
Falling out of the Division-2 women’s top four for the first time this season, the Casey Cavaliers will look to bounce back against North East on Saturday night at home from 7.30pm.
Saturday night wasn’t any better for the Cavaliers men as Stewart Baird’s brigade fell 60-69 to Keilor.
Unable to match the Thunder through the first half, the Cavaliers struggled to catch up. Despite the best efforts of Lester Strong (21 points, 14 rebounds) and Dean Johnson (16 points, 13 rebounds), Casey would fail to match pace and succumbed to its third loss of the season.
The Cavs men sit sixth in the Big V Division 1 Watson conference and will take on Southern Peninsula – and former Cavaliers forward Jono Hawes – on Saturday night at Hillview Basketball Stadium, Rosebud from 7.30pm.
