Tough time on the road

DEFENDING NBL1 champions Knox Raiders made it a rough start for the OneFortyOne Mount Gambier Pioneers road double, making it consecutive losses for the Mount Gambier team with an 83-72 home court victory.

The Pioneers shot out of the blocks for an early eight-point lead, but Knox hit back and by the first break had secured a 23-18 advantage.

The Raiders then built that to a 47-38 edge by the main break and then after the Pioneers did their best to hang in there but Knox pushed away again with 21 points to 16 in the last quarter to lead by as much as 15 and go on to win by 11.

That improved Knox to a 5-3 record as defending champions with Paige Bradley delivering 22 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals with 4/9 three-point shooting to emerge as the most damaging player on court.

For the Pioneers, Kelsey Rees finished with 15 points and eight rebounds with Tilly Boler adding 12 points and six boards, Abby Prohaska 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists, Carla Pitman 11 points and five rebounds, and Lara Edmanson 10 points, six boards and three assists.

The road trip only got worse for the girls when the Pioneers took on the Sandringham Sabres and went down 100-74.

The victory made it five on the bounce for the Sabres with Steph Reid spearheading the Sabres’ dominance with 31 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals on 12/21 field goal shooting along with 5/11 shooting from behind the arc..

The home side started on fire with an early 10-0 run before the Pioneers answered with 10 straight points themselves but by quarter time it was the Sabres on top by eight points in a high scoring quarter of basketball.

That lead for Sandringham got out to 18 in the second term and by the half time break the home team were on top 55-37.

The Sabres took complete control from there with 22 points to 12 in the third frame and the lead grew to 32 points, and then 39 in the last term before they secured the 26-point win after the Pioneers did go on a late 13-0 run.

Then loss saw the Pioneers well and truly back in the pack with a 5-3 season record.

Lara Edmanson top scored with 19 points and eight rebounds with Tilly Boler adding 11 points, three boards and two steals, Abby Prohaska 11 points and seven rebounds, Grace Champion 10 points and two boards, and Kelsey Rees nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

The Castec Rural Supplies Mount Gambier Pioneers men fared a little better on the Melbourne road trip, winning a tight encounter against the Raiders 111-108 to start the road double on a high, defeating the top ranked Raiders on their home court.

The Pioneers started strongly with 30 points to 21 in the first quarter but then the Raiders responded with 30 to 22 and it was Mount Gambier narrowly leading 52-51 at the half.

Knox then had 33 points to 29 in the third period and then three-pointers to start the last quarter from Tad Dufelmeier and Henry Sewell put Knox up seven.

They were still up six with seven minutes to play but just two minutes later and a triple from Ngor Manyang put Mount Gambier back up two.

The lead continued to exchange hands but the Pioneers did get up four a couple of times late but after free throws from Collin Moore, it was a three-point Mount Gambier lead.

Knox didn’t have much time without a timeout and Trazarien White couldn’t knock down his prayer to force overtime and the Pioneers held on to win by three.

The critical win was the men’s third for the season, with Moore delivering 24 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals, and Gordon 22 points and 15 boards.

Back on court, skipper Alex Mudronja also had 22 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Manyang 21 points and three boards.

It was back to earth with a thud for the Pioneers on Sunday when the Sabres conjured a 112-99 victory.

The Sabres scored the first 10 points of the game and even though it was just a two point lead by half time, the reigning champs took over in the season half to build a 26 point lead before winning by 13 and improving to 4-4 as a result with the Pioneers now 3-5.

The Pioneers couldn’t quite back up their stunning win the night before over the Raiders despite having six players that all scored between 12 and 20 points in the game.

Scott Telfer led the way with 20 points with three rebounds and three steals with Mudronja having made his return this weekend and providing 19 points and two boards with 3/6 three-point shooting.

Elijah Saifaleupolu added 17 points on 6/9 shooting from the field and 3/4 from downtown with Lucas Gordon contributing 15 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.

Collin Moore provided 16 points and four rebounds while Ngor Manyang had 10 points in the first period and 12 for the game with two assists.