TARDY START COSTLY
DARWIN Salties women’s team never recovered from the early gut punches of four successive Logan Thunder three pointers in an opening quarter blitz, going down by 32 points at Marrara on Saturday night.
The Chelsea Brook-less Salties started brightly and did what it couldn’t do early last weekend – land a three – as Ruby Porter got the home team on the board within a minute.
However, the Thunder hit back hard with four consecutive maximums (Chevannah Paalvast, Ashley Taia, Carla Drennan and Mikaela Ruef) while the Salties threw up several air balls and struggled to convert forward entries, although some unluckily rimmed out.
Staring into the abyss as 3-16, local product Kylie Duggan scored neatly off the glass and converted the foul to drag the Salties back into the contest.
Then a three-point play from Erin Bollmann, and a Teyla Evans three pointer closed the gap to a more respectable eight points at the first break (24-16).
However, Logan’s slick passing gave the likes of Paalvast a relative eternity to shoot, while Danielle Baynes’ three was the recipient of a fortunate bounce, something which evaded the home team.
Logan’s defence was also watertight, regularly stripping the Salties of the ball as they went hunting baskets, while the visitors dominated the rebounds (Ruef 11 for the half and 21 for the game).
A killer Bollmann pass found Duggan under the basket and a Jess Boundy bomb were two of few bright spots as Logan doubled the Salties’ score by half time (24-48).
The Salties had their share of highlights in the second – nice jumpers from Bollman and Evans, while the latter’s rebound set up a Ruby Porter fast break – but they were unable to whittle away the massive margin.
While never in the contest, Bollmann worked tirelessly with 15 points, eight smooth assists, seven boards and six steals.
The 1-2 Salties will embark on their first road trip, to Townsville on Friday and then Cairns on Saturday.