Posted on 21 May, 2018

The Kilsyth Lady Cobras have kept their impressive winning streak alive, defeating Diamond Valley, 70-68 in a physical, down-to-the-wire classic on Saturday night.

Facing a monstrous Eagles front line, the Lady Cobras battled fearlessly down low, coming up with some huge plays inside in the final minutes of play to hold on for their sixth consecutive victory.

Big players make big plays when it counts. @phaniecumming is one of those players! pic.twitter.com/Qd3z10NulO

— Kilsyth Basketball (@KilsythCobras) May 19, 2018

Trailing, 59-60 with under three minutes remaining, Hope Terdich completed a three-point play inside as she put-back a Jasmine Gill miss to give the Lady Cobras a two-point lead. The Eagles Abby Wehrung quickly responded with a three pointer of her own, before the league’s two-time MVP, Steph Blicavs, took control to put the Lady Cobras ahead for good.

Isolated on the right wing, Blicavs drove baseline and delivered a beautiful no-look pass to fellow MVP Angela Beadle, who finished inside to give Kilsyth the lead. But Eagles forward Ezi Magbegor answered with an alley-oop finish inside on the ensuing possession, setting the scene for Blicavs to respond once more. And Blicavs delivered again, going baseline and finishing with a tough reverse layup over the 6’6” Lauren Scherf to put Kilsyth back on top with just over a minute to play.

The Lady Cobras then dug deep for a pair of clutch stops, and Magbegor was called for an unsportsmanlike foul while trying to stop the clock in the final seconds, seemingly sealing the game for Kilsyth. But with the Cobras ahead by four with just eight seconds remaining, the Eagles Briahna Whatman raced down the floor and drained a deep three to make it a one point game, and then fouled to stop the clock with 0.6 seconds remaining.

Kilsyth’s Alison Downie missed the first free throw and buried the second, though, giving the Eagles one final chance to send the game into overtime — or win with a three. But Scherf missed a heavily contested baseline fadeaway as time expired, and the Lady Cobras escaped with a nail biting victory to remain in the hunt for the league’s best record.

Lady Cobras head coach Sam Woosnam was thrilled with her team’s resolve in crunch time and toughness in the paint, with Kilsyth winning the battle on the glass (52-39) and points in the paint (36-28) despite being severely undersized for much of the night.

“Saturday’s game was probably our biggest test to date, as Diamond Valley have a very talented roster and we placed a lot of focus on the defensive end,” Woosnam said.

“To keep a team like that to six offensive boards and to get 20 of our own really shows that we have improved greatly in those areas.  We managed to also get a handful of shot clock violations which really highlighted our commitment to team defence.”

Leading the Lady Cobras defensive performance down low was Angela Beadle, Sarah Parsons, Rosie Moult and Hope Terdich, with the Kilsyth frontcourt battling mightily inside to limit the impact of Scherf and Magbegor. Beadle finished with 12 rebounds and added 10 points for her third double-double of the season; Parsons and Terdich combined for 16 rebounds – including 10 offensive – while Moult was a team-best +13 off the bench in 16 minutes of play.

Blicavs paced the Lady Cobras in scoring once again, recording a game-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds, six assists and three steals, and Gill added 11 points — including 10 straight to start the fourth quarter.

Despite the big fourth quarter performances from Blicavs and Gill, the Lady Cobras could not buy a bucket for most of the evening, shooting just 35 percent from the field and missing a handful of chip shots inside. But Woosnam was happy to see her team overcome it’s offensive shortcomings and find a way to win on the other end of the floor this time around, something they have seldom needed to do in 2018.

“We missed a lot of easy baskets in the third quarter, and if we had have made them the game probably wouldn’t have been that close,” Woosnam said.

“But when we couldn’t score our defence got stops, which is what we haven’t been doing in previous weeks. Overall it was a great team win and we are really pleased with the result and will build from here.”

The win moves the Lady Cobras record to an impressive 8-1, trailing only the undefeated Bendigo Braves in the league standings. They’ll take aim at their seventh consecutive win this weekend, when they take on rivals Nunawading at home in a Saturday night blockbuster.

The Lady Cobras will tip-off Saturday night’s doubleheader at 6.00pm, with the Men to follow against the Spectres at 8.00pm.