Braves hitting their stride

THE Bendigo Braves claimed wins in all four of their games last weekend, with both the men’s and women’s team continuing their good form.

The women’s team tipped off the round 12 double header with a 19-point win over Sandringham Sabres, off the back of Megan McKay’s 32 points and 14 rebounds and Tess Madgen’s 20 points and 13 assists.

Sunday’s clash with Casey Cavaliers was a convincing 100-69 win with Madgen again flexing her talent, knocking down five three pointers on her way to 32 points and 10 assists.

Brave’s women’s coach Mark Alabakov said the team will look to take its good form into finals.

“The style is a system offense where the ball gets shared, and everyone gets their chance to shine within it and I think that’s a real strength of our group,” he said.

Madgen is set to join 41-year-old Lauren Jackson and Bendigo Spirit’s Anneli Maley in the Australian Opals squad in New York this week, as preparations for the Women’s Basketball World Cup ramp up.

Alabakov said he’s proud of the 2020 Olympian who has joined the leadership group of the national squad, and the Braves will make the necessary adjustments to deal with her absence.

Meanwhile the men’s continued their hot streak, claiming their ninth win in a row as they rose to fourth on the ladder.

They notched an 81-67 win over the Sabres with NBL1 rebound leader Sidy Djitte grabbing a massive 25 boards.

That game was followed by an eight-point win over the Cavaliers with 22-year-old Kuany Kuany putting up 30 points.

Men’s coach Steve Black said the team has been working on defending and setting the tone early.

“Over the last 10 or 11 games we’ve kept every team under 80 points,” he said.

“We’ve been proud of keeping teams’ double digits under their averages. We made that a huge focus, we have some dynamic scorers, but our cornerstone is defence.”

Round 13 sees another double header for the Braves, facing Nunawading away on Saturday before returning to the Red Energy Arena to face Hobart.