Calm heads help Chargers to overtime victory

IT WAS a heart-stopper for the coach but the Surfcoast Chargers women got back on the winners list ahead of the Big V division two league bye.

The injury-riddled Chargers beat RMIT University 85-81 in overtime to break their five-game losing streak.

Injuries struck again for the fifth-placed side who have a 5-6 record.

They lost Amy Hooiveld to a broken finger in the second quarter and Molly Kent to a knee injury in the fourth.

Skipper Jess Scannell, who has been nursing a calf strain, also didn’t play in the fourth stanza.

“With the help of a few youth league players, we were able to get the win but yes, it was absolutely stressful,” coach Stef Grayson said.

 

“I was very grateful for the knowledge and the calm of my senior players.”

Grayson said the win had lifted the players’ spirits leading into the bye and the next game is against Blackburn on Saturday, June 14, at home at 7.30pm.

She said they would get a few more players back after the break with Anna Teague (calf) and Lisa Patterson (iliotibial band tear) on track.

“It’s going to be about locking down in defence, a lot of our flow in offence comes from our defence, so it will just be about really locking down, staying focussed in defence and keeping the pressure up,” Grayson said.

Meanwhile, the second-ranked Surfcoast division 2 men will look to bounce back in their away clash against Collingwood on June 14 at 8pm.

They have lost their past two matches, with a 102-78 defeat to Mildura and a 94-77 loss to Sherbrooke.