Supercats aim for top
THE Geelong Lady Supercats have continued their quest to snatch top in the SEABL East Conference, from Kilsyth, with consecutive weekend successes taking their winning streak to six.
David Herbert’s line-up followed Friday night’s 19-point win over Nunawading by fending off a late charge from Sandringham to claim its 17th win of the season, 83-70.
Chantel Horvat’s final weekend of Supercats’ action yielded a collective 43 points and 18 rebounds, with 21 points and nine boards coming in the success over the Lady Sabres on Saturday.
As Horvat underlined her US college-identified class, fel- low forward Ebony Rolph reminded everybody of her quality, and emerging importance to Geelong’s finals aspirations with 33 points and 21 boards over the two games.
“Since the girls (Alex Bunton and Sara Blicavs) have been out, it’s certainly helped develop a bit more of my own game,” Rolph said of her prolific numbers recently.
“We couldn’t believe it, but every week the SEABL website write up doubts us, but as a team we’ve only lost one game since missing those players.
“It’s a real credit to ‘Herby’ (coach David Herbert) and our role players, so we can get the job done even if we don’t have our star players.”
Diminutive 2017 acquisition Ellen Kett was another player to relish increased minutes in the absence of regular starting guard Alex Duck. Kett landed seven of 15 shots from the field at 46 per cent to clock-up 17 points in one of her best individual efforts of the season. Her presence on the backboards (seven rebounds) belied her 170cm.
“Ellen is excellent, I absolutely love playing with her,” Rolph said.
“Yeah, she still gets her points and her boards and things, but it’s all the little assists and her vision on the court.
“I couldn’t speak highly enough of her contribution.”
The Lady Supercats led for the majority of the first half, going to the main break with an 11-point buffer before blowing the Sabres out of the contest with a 29-19 third term.
Despite a 24-16 rally from the home side, Geelong held on to win by 13 points.
“I just think we’re really working as a team and finding one another’s strengths,” Rolph said.
“If we win next weekend we’ll be a chance to finish on top of the ladder.”