Shepparton’s men’s Country Basketball League has yet to get on the board this season, but there are positives for the women’s Gators across two games in the competition’s third round.
The Gators girls led at halftime against Wodonga in round three of the CBL at Shepparton Sports Stadium on Saturday, but relinquished the advantage in the second half to lose 44-55.
Holly Reid and Tamica Tunumafono each scored 10 points as the Gators finally hit the hardwood after byes in the first two rounds, but as they shook out the cobwebs, the Wolves’ team chemistry was flying after clicking across two games in the previous fortnight.
However, it took less than 24 hours for the Gators to learn their lessons from the first-up loss, playing a reverse effort against Wallan on Sunday.
The Panthers pounced on a nine-point half-time advantage with a 20-point second quarter doing the damage, but Tunumafono continued her hot-handed shooting along with Elliana Gray in the second half.
The Gators outscored Wallan by 13 in the third term alone to snatch back the lead, and produced a 21 to 12 final quarter to death roll the Panthers out of any hope of victory, 54-67.
A classic tale of two halves, Tunumafono scored 17 points while Gray added 15, 20 of those 32 combined points netted in the second half.
Shepparton is seventh on the CBL North East women’s ladder, albeit not out of the finals race having played as many as three games less than other teams in the division.
As for the men’s Gators, it’s been a rocky start.
Shepparton lost to Wodonga by 23 points, 93-116, before a 121-69 shellacking to Wallan on Sunday.
Tyson Coonerty (22 points v Wodonga), Jordan Birch (19 points v Wodonga) and Campbell Harrison (15 points v Wallan) were bright sparks offensively despite the heavy defeats.
Both Shepparton sides face a strong Seymour side at home on Saturday evening, the men’s Blasters sitting first and women’s Blasters second on their respective CBL ladders.
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