Wallen, Duck left to carry the burden

GEELONG Lady Supercats coach David Herbert says his side needs to “live and die by their game style” after losing consecutive matches in their weekend road trip to Tasmania.

The Lady Supercats were defeated 73-70 on Friday night by Launceston Tornadoes in what was the club’s first hitout with their two imports, Daniela Wallen and Chelsea Poppens.

Yesterday’s game wasn’t any better, succumbing to the Hobart Chargers 63-57 in what was a “very disappointing weekend” according to Her- bert. The Supercats shot at 35 and 29 per cent from the field in the two games — far too low for the style of basketball Herbert wants his side to play.

“You can’t shoot at 30 per cent and expect to win games,” Herbert said.

“We’re about playing a consistent game style and that went missing this weekend.

“We shied away from shooting the ball at times when we missed a couple and that’s not what we’re about.

“At the end of the day we are a good three-point shooting team but it certainly didn’t show this weekend.”

Poppens and Wallen had limited game time after just one completed training session midweek, but the latter lifted in the Supercats’ second match against Hobart with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Isa Brancatisano picked up a shoulder injury in Friday’s match against Launceston hindering yesterday’s game scoring just five points.

Herbert said the performances of Wallen and captain Alex Duck were major posi- tives. “I thought Daniela’s game was particularly good, as was Alex Duck’s. If we had a few more contributors we could have won quite convincingly,” Herbert said.

More time and training with the new-look team is pivotal, according to Herbert.

“It’s not panic stations by any means. We’re three and three with an addition of two new players, so once we fit them in well, we’ll be fine,” he said.

“We only had the one training session so it was a little hard on them. It’s going to take a little bit of time.”