BASKETBALL: The Yowies women officially join the men's squad in the quest for the Waratah League premiership after defeating the Bathurst Goldminers twice over the weekend by a minimum of 29-points.
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Queanbeyan will line up against Bathurst again on August 1, at the Sutherland Basketball Stadium after domin-ating a weekend of play against them, with a 72-41 win on Saturday and a 86-57 victory on Sunday.
The losses were the Goldminers first of the regular season and it sees the Yowies leapfrog into second place, pushing the 'Miners from first to third position.
Last time the teams met the Goldminers put on a show at home to take a 82-68 victory, but Yowies coach Chris Higgisson said the girls were a completely different team over the weekend.
"I thought we hit rock bottom when we played Bathurst, we had no intensity, desire to chase the ball or second efforts," she said.
"Kristen Langhorn will always play well and score 20 points for us, but we can't just rely on one person like we did. This weekend Bathurst weren't shooting very well, we ran the floor really well, found the open man and had a range of scorers.
"Annie La Fleur (20 points) put on an absolute clinic on Sunday, I haven't seen her play like that in 10-15 years when she was still an Opal, playing in the WNBL. She couldn't miss and her shot selection was excellent; it was great for the young kids to learn from that."
Langhorn played a collective three games over the weekend, playing in the SEABL competition as well as the two matches for Queanbeyan, she scored 18 points on Saturday and 12 points on Sunday, slightly below her usual 20-plus game, but dominated the boards and managed a number of steals, playing 38 minutes and "continually produced" Higgisson said.
The Yowies were without strong inside/outside player Olivia Simpson, who was out with illness, but Tegan Ketels continued to step up since her return from the US.
"Tegan is a real confidence player, she's the best shooter in the team, technically, after Annie of course, so there are patches of play where she absolutely nails her shots- she's an inside/outside threat," she said.
"Hayley Douglas has also found recent form; she's unstoppable when she takes it to the rack. Nadezda Dorsoski also played well, she's a bit of an energiser bunny and is hard in for the ball."
Queanbeyan are now at "full-strength" going into finals and have beaten all of the top teams, but Higgison said she won't be celebrating until the cup is back in the Yowies Den.
"I'm incredibly confident going into finals given the position we're in now, but I'm also nervous given our history," she said.
"I don't want to jinx us, but finals is completely different [to the regular season], you can play well all year and lose it in the first game of finals."
The Yowies men's team take on Sydney Uni on Saturday, July 25, at Sydney Uni Sports and Aquatic Centre in the quarter final of the NSW Waratah League after defeating Bankstown by 10-points for the final game of the regular season.