Blicavs stars in nailbiter

THE Geelong Supercats dropped their first game of the NBL1 Women season last night in a nailbiter across the bay in Frankston, losing to the Blues by one point 64-65.

Missing recent WNBA draft pick Ezi Magbegor and Zitina Aokuso to Australian Opals camp commitments, the Supercats started strong despite being undermanned.

Sara Blicavs dominated the paint for the Supercats, finishing with 16 points and 16 rebounds for the game.

The Blues got the edge on the tiring Supercats in the fourth quarter and a threepoint shot by the Blues’ Taylor Lee gave the home team a onepoint lead with 30 seconds to play.

Supercats coach David Herbert admitted his team lost the game in the second half.

“Our first half was decent, but the second half we missed too many shots that we would normally make,” Herbert said.

“Frankston went to a zone in the second half and we just didn’t handle it very well.

“We didn’t manage the clock at the end of the game, so we ended up putting pressure on ourselves.”

On the team dynamics with Magbegor and Aokuso out, Herbert expects the rest of the team to step up.

“We are going to have players in and out with Opals camps this season, so we need to manage and learn to play no matter who is on the floor,” he said.

“That’s really what we’ve been working hard on at training but we didn’t execute tonight.”

The Geelong Supercats return home next weekend for an Easter Saturday clash at the Geelong Arena against the Eltham Wildcats.

The women’s game tips off at 5pm.