Photo Credit – Anthony Furina / Adelaide University
4-Minute Read
Women
The Women began their road trip in Victoria with a huge upset knocking off the top of the table University of Melbourne 67-86 with a second half takeover.
The first half was incredibly tight for the team led by last week’s MVP in Terran Wright and Sasha Hardin.
There was not much in the game all the way up to the half time buzzer trailing 40-37. That’s when the game swung in the away team’s favour with Ella Turnbull particularly stepping up in the absence of Norwood Flame teammate Caitlin Shillabeer.
A 0-9 start in third led by Turnbull and the Waatu seized the lead back 40-47 with a triple from Melbourne’s Gemma Watson breaking the run but it was only temporary. The run continued with another 0-7 run with the Waatu running all over their opponents in the open court 43-54. It continued to flow the Waatu’s way with Wright drawing the foul on three point shot to keep the lead with Melbourne fighting back late in the quarter to bring it back to 55-63 with one to play.
Jemima Whitton found her range once again for a triple with Turnbull’s attack too much for the home side to contain with the Waatu’s range beyond the arc damaging with six of nine in the second half for a 67-86 victory. Wright finished with 18 points & eight rebounds, Turnbull collected 16 points in an aggressive offensive performance.
The week continued for the Women sealing a successful time away with a 60-87 comprehensive win over FED University. FED started the better with the 26-21 opening term but that’s where the Waatu flicked the switch and took control. Stung by a slow start – Lachlan Coppick’s women produced the 2-11 run with Shillabeer returning to play with some timely triples. Another followed in a second quarter spree as her and the Waatu wrestled back the lead with a 10-31 term to take the halftime advantage 36-52.
They continued their run in the third in a tighter term while not pretty Terran Wright produced some nice plays again and Claire Hunter played some vital minutes to help extend the lead to 44-67 at three quarter time. Hunter continued on with her best game of the season punishing the FED defence to seal the road win for the away side and put themselves in the box seat for a home final in early October.
Turnbull across four quarters had her season best with 24 points & seven rebounds with Hunter producing 14 points & six rebounds with four triples with Shillabeer dropping four of her own for 13 points in another handy contribution.
Men
It was a slightly different story for the men with a tough set of match-ups as it turned out starting with the University of Melbourne with a third quarter road bump delivering a 86-67 loss to the home side.
An intriguing match-up ensured between Curtis Scott and Dihan Wiggett with Scott getting on top of the home side early with eight first quarter points taking the Waatu to a 0-8 start. Josh McNally of Melbourne however saw them quickly back in charge with some deep daggers for a 20-18 slight lead after one.
Wiggett and McNally late in the second term helped push the homeside to a slightly extended margin 45-37 at the main break before snapping the Waatu’s momentum in the third term. The 20-11 quarter was exclamation pointed with a Wiggett dunk despite the sharp shooting Angus Crosby keeping the away side in touching distance 65-48 with the last quarter ahead.
Matt Thomson (13 points & 10 rebounds) joined Crosby in trying to cut the margin back getting it back to 13 points in four minutes left but Melbourne through Wiggett and McNally the nemesis of previous finals and matches against AU took the homeside to the top of the table win.
Crosby had his best game in multiple seasons for the Waatu with 18 points with Scott still strong with 17 points, six rebounds despite the attention from Wiggett while Ayual Garang grabbed a double double of 12 points & 12 rebounds.
In the second leg of their double header against FED – the Waatu held off the late charge from the home-side after establishing a dominant start 79-81. With Scott sitting out Mitch Cretan got his first start of the season and elevated his game with seven points to the level needed to give the Waatu a 9-26 start.
The second term was much closer with the Waatu having difficulty containing and negotiating Josh Uhr-Henry who produced a monster game on the glass however a pair of triples late in the second to Rylie Stephenson saw the Waatu hold their comfortable lead 32-46.
The second half belonged to the home-side with the Waatu looking like they were tiring – Cretan again along with Isaac Hampel keeping them out 34-54. FED sensed the change in momentum putting on 10-3 through Henry and Luke Logan – Nate Raymond’s triple getting it to single digits for the first time since the opening term 52-61 however the Waatu responded. Garang stepped up with two huge triples but was met by Logan again as the homeside snuck within striking distance at three quarter time 60-67.
Garang provided the instance offence to keep the Waatu in front despite the storm of Uhr-Henry, Logan and Raymond at the other end – taking the lead 70-69 with five minutes left. Garang responded with five points in consecutive minutes as it came down to the final plays of the game.
Raymond’s drive at the basket saw FED back within touch 79-80 with the home-side forcing the turnover to gain an out of bounds play. With 44 seconds left the Waatu intercepted the baseline pass then creating the late SHOTLOCK opportunity for Garang who missed the target with FED with the ball in hand with 15 seconds remaining. The shot went short and landed in the hands of Stephenson who was fouled. Immediately fouled after the timeout was several Waatu players before the winning ticket was drawn by Garang making the first then missing the second purposely to seal the much needed win.
In the absence of Scott – Garang stepped up with 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds – Cretan grabbed a career high in Waatu colours over four years with 14 points, eight rebounds and an outstanding job containing Logan. Thomson also gathered 15 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists in a near triple double for him.
The Waatu Women and Men next take on Curtin University over in Western Australia – Friday 18 September
Women – University of Melbourne 67 (Davis 18, Price 13, Bannan 10, Phillips 7) defeated by AU Waatu 86 (Wright 18, Turnbull 16, Hardin, Whitton 12)
Women – FED University 60 (Catheray-Harvey 21, Rakogiannis 12, Davis 11, Arnason 8) defeated by AU Waatu 87 (Turnbull 24, Hunter 14, Shillabeer 13, Wright 11, Whitton 8, Niemann 7)
Men – University of Melbourne 86 (McNally 20, Wiggett 18, Avgerinos 17, Bandilovski 10, Stanski 9) defeated AU Waatu 67 (Crosby 18, Scott 17, Thomson 13, Garang 12, Hampel 7)
Men – FED University 79 (Uhr-Henry 25, Logan 21, Raymond 20) defeated by AU Waatu 81 (Garang 20, Thomson 15, Cretan 14, Crosby , Hampel 9, Stephenson 8)
Catch all the action against Curtin University from this Friday 18 September on the UBL website and stay tuned to the crossoverdribble for match reports and features throughout the season.
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