Posted on 14 March, 2017

Opening their regular season against Altona, the Cobra Women were plagued by a rough shooting second period and couldn’t recover, losing to the Gators, 48-69. Though they trailed by just two points entering the second stanza, the deficit blew out to 26-40 heading into halftime as Kilsyth managed just seven points in the period.

Missing several key players in their season debut, the Cobras couldn’t recover, dropping to 0-1 on the season.

Brooke McGurgan led the way for Kilsyth with a team-high 14 points to go along with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Chloe Anderson added 11 points in the loss, while Sarah Haberfield chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds.

While the Women stumbled in their opener, it was a different story for Mark Landells’ Men, riding big games from Jamie Ahale and Mitch Dielemans to defeat Ringwood, 89-80.

Ahale picked up right where he left off a season ago, with the 2016 team MVP scoring a game-high 24 points – including 5/9 shooting from three-point range – to go along with eight rebounds and two steals, while Dielemans added 23 points, five rebounds and four assists in an impressive all-around performance.

The pair helped Kilsyth explode out of the gates, combining for 18 first quarter points as the Cobras led 35-26 after one period of play. Kilsyth went cold over the next 20 minutes, though, and the Hawks took full advantage, pulling to within 67-68 with under six minutes remaining in the game.

But timely buckets from Ahale, Jorden Adnam, Harry Frith and Jed Wilson fuelled a 10-0 run in response, and the Cobras were able to keep Ringwood at bay to record a big victory over last season’s runners-up.

Adnam added 13 points and four assists in the win, Zac Wuersching showed off his impressive big-man passing skills to record seven assists, while Wilson was stellar off the bench, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and matching Wuersching with a team-high seven assists.

Both the Men and Women play their home openers this Sunday at the Kilsyth Sports Centre, where they’ll square-off against the Waverley Falcons (Women 12.30pm; Men 2.30pm).