Young gun Conway rolls the Gold Coast
BASKETBALL: The Toowoomba Mountaineers women are officially on the board in the QSL season, and they may have unearthed a future star in the process.
Fifteen-year-old guard Laura Conway stamped herself as a player to watch in the league, stuffing the stat sheet with 18 points (7-11 FG), four rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.
“It’s incredible to see a junior progressing through the pathways like that, having a successful A-grade women’s tournament and transferring that to the QSL,” coach Matt Cox said.
“I’m really happy for Laura and she put in an awesome effort.
“She’s one of those confidence players that we’ve been speaking about with our junior group.
“They need to take the game on when they’re on the floor and Laura took it by the horns and rode with it on Sunday.
“She doesn’t care about outcomes. She’s relentless attacking the rim and reaped the rewards.
“Hopefully that’s a good encouragement for the rest of our junior squad now.”
Conway’s efforts propelled the Mountaineers to a 68-61 defeat of the Gold Coast Rollers at the Clive Berghofer Recreation Centre, their first win of the year.
Despite posting just 12 points in the first term, Toowoomba launched a devastating attack on the visitors in the second, outscoring the Rollers 22-7 to open up an advantage they would refuse to surrender.
Captain Raquel Spies had a solid all-round performance with 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals for the afternoon, while Taylor Ferris put up an efficient 16 points and nine rebounds.
“It was a really good win for us and a confidence builder, that’s for sure,” Cox said.
“We’ve thought we’ve been in all three games, but it’s always tough to get over the hump.
“In the second quarter we really focused on our defence and our defensive pressure went to another level. We forced a lot of turnovers and that led to some easy buckets in transition.
“We were sharing the ball among multiple players, which we haven’t quite had so far this season.”
The Mountaineers again had to do it without Canadian import Michaela Allen-Gullion, and Cox is hopeful she can return for their next clash with the Sunshine Coast this weekend.
“Unfortunately she was ruled out with a concussion again after that slip at North Gold Coast,” Cox said.
“We’re only eight days post that. Usually these things take about 10-14 (days), so we’re pretty confident she’ll return on Saturday.”
Toowoomba will take on the Sunshine Coast Phoenix on the road on Saturday in both divisions.