Mountaineers claim pair of wins in SBL
BASKETBALL: A dominating performance on the road has seen the Toowoomba Mountaineers climb to eighth on the SBL ladder after a 84-34 win over the Caboolture Suns in Morayfield.
The visitors led at every change after a strong start saw them take a commanding 35-12 half-time advantage.
They didn’t let up in the second half, holding a 34-point lead into the final term, before racing away in the end to score a huge win.
A balanced scoring effort saw Jasmine Gardner (24), Lisa Salmi (23) and Kimberlee Wilson (10) finish in double figures.
Gardner hit four threethe pointers during the rout, taking her season average to 18 points per game.
The win ends a frustrating run of two narrow defeats to Mountaineers, and they can recapture a positive record when they face Logan in a fortnight’s time.
The men had a much tougher struggle, but came away with a 80-73 defeat of Caboolture, ending a run of four-straight defeats.
Like their women counterparts, the men were on fire during the opening 10 minutes, as a 13-point first term from Tito Kwajawkan gave the Mountaineers a 27-12 lead.
The Suns, despite trailing at every change, kept chipping away at the lead and eventually cut the margin back to just three with less than six minutes remaining.
When the chips were down, the Mountaineers QBL charge took control, as Kwajakwan and Syd Hume combined for nine of the team’s last 15 points to ice the win.