Back-to-back wins for Miners women

THE Ballarat Miners women claimed two NBL1 South scalps last weekend with home and road wins.

On Saturday, the team welcomed the Hobart Chargers to Selkirk Stadium and came away with a big 87 to 63 victory.

The one-two punch of Zitina Aokuso and Jade Melbourne did most of the damage, with 26 and 23 points and eight and six rebounds respectively. The pair also had and identical 66.67 shooting percentages.

Kristy Rinaldi and Stephanie Gorman both had 12 points, with the latter also passing off for six assists.

Less then 20 hours later the women were back in action, this time on the road at Dandenong where they recorded an even bigger 48 to 93 win.

Once again WNBL drafted Melbourne’s star shone bright, with a game high 23 points and eight rebounds and assists, while Aokuso had a double double registering 12 points and pulling down 11 in the paint.

Kristy Rinaldi, Isabella Brancatisano and Stephanie Gorman also turned in double figure points efforts.

The pair of wins elevated the women’s squad up the ladder by two spots into eighth palace and means the team now has a seven and five record and are off seventh spot on percentage.

Meanwhile the Miners Men split their outcomes, dropping a 75 to 82 Saturday night home decision to Hobart before bouncing back against Dandenong with a slim 70 to 72 win for the good guys.

At Selkirk the men were smothered, with Deng Gak sinking a team high 16 points, JD Miller on 12 and David Crisp and Nicolas Pozoglou the only players to reach double figures.

Both Miller and Gak also had double doubles.

At Dandenong, journeyman Preston Bungei played the role of hero for the Miners, with a team high 20 points including a tidy rebound and subsequent dunk at the final buzzer to seal the win.

The Miners men still hold second on the table and improved their season record to eight and four with a 66.70 winning percentage.

Both the women and men will be back in action at Selkirk this Saturday from 6pm.