Friday 21st July 2017
GAME NIGHT PROGRAM FRIDAY 21st July 2017 Printed by
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DOUBLE HEADER SEABL WOMEN – 6:00PM SEABL MEN – 8:00PM TONIGHT’S GAME IS SPONSORED BY
FROM THE FRONT OFFICE It’s confirmed! We are heading to the finals, the women have now secured at least second spot on the ladder which guarantees the Luina Geelong Supercats a home final. For the men, a win tonight will secures third spot, however with Nunawading having dropped the last 2 games the gap to second spot is just 1 game. This weekend could answer all the finals questions in the East. The Luina Geelong Lady Supercats will have to get use to not having their star centre Alex Bunton on court. Alex unfortunately suffered a knee injury at the recent Opals camp and went in for surgery today. The rest of the team stepped up last week against power house Bendigo by dominating the boards 55-32. The win over Bendigo has created a 4 game gap over Sydney Uni and means that first place is still a chance, but relies on Kilsyth dropping at least one more game. Last week we saw two legends of the Supercats family return, Shane Heal and Cal Bruton were our guest speakers for a pre match dinner, afterwards they both took the court for a 3-point shootout and both Shane and Cal still proved that range was not an issue. Shane Heal narrowly taking out the glory. Speaking of 3pt shows, Nathan Herbert put on yet another clinic, hitting 6 out of 7 from behind the arc including a massive bomb at the 3rd quarter buzzer, ending with 35 points for the game. This week against Sandringham will no doubt see the Sabres come out firing as they are playing to keep their finals hopes alive. Finally tonight sees Kristian Rocci play his 100th game in a Supercats uniform, Kristian brings a hard-nosed attitude and high energy to the floor every night. Kristian started with the Luina Geelong Supercats in 2014 and has not missed a game since. Well done Kristian. The next home game is next Friday night, 28th of July against Nunawading, the Luina Geelong Supercats women tip off at 6:00pm followed by the men 8:00pm. Enjoy the night #SeeRed #SupercatsFamily Regards, Dean Anglin CEO
MATCH DAY PREVIEWS MEN Luina Geelong Supercats (3rd East Conference 13-8) vs. Sandringham (5th East Conference 9-11) Geelong Arena,Friday 8:00pm A WIN over Sandringham will have a double-effect for the Luina Geelong Supercats. Not only will it make a playoff berth a certainty, but it will also keep alive the Supercats feint hopes of stealing second spot on the East Conference table from Nunawading. However, a loss will keep both the Sabres and Albury-Wodonga in the frame to knock out Geelong out of third spot and, potentially, the playoffs. However, if the Bandits can’t upset championship favourites Mt Gambier on Friday night, the Supercats spot in a 20th consecutive post-season will already be confirmed. Friday night’s meeting is the second with Sandringham in 2017. When the two teams met back in Round 5, Sandringham overcame Geelong 84-80. On that night, Sabres veteran Nathan Crosswell proved hard to contain with 20 points and five assists, while DeMarcus Gatlin (23) points and Nathan Herbert (21 points) were the only Supercats to score in double figures. Sandringham has everything to play for, with Albury-Wodonga (9-11) and Kilsyth (9-12) sharing similar records heading into Round 16. However, consecutive losses to Bendigo and Frankston has put the Sabres on the back foot. Import Jerry Evans, who was limited to just eight points after getting into foul trouble in the previous meeting with Geelong, top scored with 25 points. Igor Hadziomerovic will also need to be closely watched, having averaged 17 points over the past three weeks. The Supercats are coming off consecutive wins, including a 100-72 hiding of Melbourne. Herbert was the star in that performance with a season-high 35 points. Geelong have five players score in double figures, something coach Leon O’Neill will be keen to see more of leading into August.
WOMEN Luina Geelong Lady Supercats (2nd East Conference 14-4) vs. Sandringham (5th East Conference 512) Geelong Arena, Friday 6:00pm THE Luina Geelong Lady Supercats will be without four of their stars for the clash with Sandringham. Blicavs is on Opals duty at the FIBA Asia Cup, while Bunton heads in for knee surgery that forced her out of joining Blicavs on the flight to India and for the rest of season 2017, Duck remains on her European vacation and Horvat will miss for personal reasons meaning coach Dave Herbert will again be reliant on his young talent, which has so far stepped up to the plate in season 2017 It’s one of two meetings with the lowly Sabres in the final three rounds of the season. The equation is simple for the Geelong – they just need to keep winning if they want to steal top spot in the East Conference from Kilsyth, and therefore a host the Lady Cobras in a semi-final to open their sixth consecutive playoff appearance. With Bunton out for the rest of the season, Ebony Rolph will become the focal point in the front court, last week in Bendigo she played a crucial role inside with 16 points and 10 rebounds in her best performance since scoring 24 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against Melbourne in Round 2. Sandringham has had plenty of talent go through its roster, but not all at the same. Brittany Smart, who averaged 22.8 points per game, has been limited to just six games. Her injury replacement, experienced guard Nicole Romeo, has been a more than handy replacement. Romeo is averaging 24.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game. However she was held to just 12 points by Sydney Uni last week. It will be another test for Rolph, Kett, Brancatisano and the young Supercats to show their depth.
CLUB NEWS MY RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE Geelong Supercats: Nathan Herbert superb in special night at The Arena Wes Cusworth, SEABL Men, Geelong Advertiser July 16, 2017 4:38pm IT WAS an evening of legendary proportions at the Arena on Saturday night with former Supercat stars Cal Bruton and Shane Heal present to witness Geelong’s 28-point demolition, 100-72, of SEABL’s incarnation of the Former Supercats Cal Bruton and Shane Heal took part in a pairs’ former foe, the Melbourne Tigers. shoot off at The Arena. Pictures: Alan Barber While the duo relished the opportunity to share their experiences of the past with an appreciative pregame-dinner crowd, questioned by former Tigers’ hero Andrew Gaze, it was a current Supercat, Nathan Herbert, writing another chapter in the club’s storied history with a superlative 35-point performance. Despite being monitored by Melbourne United NBL guard Nate Tomlinson, Herbert connected at 66percent shooting, making eight of 14 two-point attempts, but hitting a stunning six of seven from outside the three-point arc. “Nate did a really good job of forcing him into pressured shots, but Herby got a couple of sighters early and we were smart enough to continue to go to him in the second half,” coach Leon O’Neill said. ““Some of the shots he made were ridiculously tough, but once he gets going he’s very hard to guard.” With Herbert on-song and Tomlinson unrelenting in his bid to contain the Supercats’ veteran shooter, the duel became a battle within the war as Geelong established an 11-point buffer by halftime. “To his credit Nate ran Herby off the three-point line, perhaps half a dozen times,” O’Neill said. “Herby was just getting to the spots that he wanted to get to, creating a little bit of space for himself and he was able to do that and get his shot off cleanly.” With double-doubles from DeMarcus Gatlin (10 points, 11 rebounds) and Ma’alo Hicks (10 points, 10 rebounds), along with effective range shooting from Kris Blicavs (14 points) and Jamie Medved (11), Geelong broke the shackles beyond the main break to win by 28 points. “That’s the way it’s going to have to be for us,” O’Neill said. “We’re going to have to trust in our system and have faith in that the way we play is going to get us there eventually. “Teams are too good, in this level that we are playing at, to blow them away in the first half. “But we feel if we can put pressure on the ball, with our grinding type of defence, we can force teams into taking tough shots.” The Supercats’ success all but assures a 20th consecutive finals appearance with three home-andaway rounds still to play. “There’s a mathematical chance that we can’t make it, but we would have to lose the next three games and have Albury and Sandringham win all of their remaining games,” O’Neill said. “But we play Sandringham next week and Albury travels to Mount Gambier (1st) and Nunawading (2nd). “If we beat Sandringham or Albury drops a game it’ll lock the finals for us.” GEELONG: N. Herbert 35 points; K. Blicavs 14 points; J. Medved 11 points. MELBOURNE: A. Stewart 31 points, seven rebounds; D. Corletto 17 points.
CLUB NEWS MY RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE Geelong Lady Supercats’ fighting qualities come to the fore against Bendigo Wes Cusworth, SEABL Women, Geelong Advertiser July 16, 2017 3:32pm THE Geelong Lady Supercats have adjusted quickly to life without star centre Alex Bunton, dominating the backboards against perennial powerhouse Bendigo to complete a resounding 24-point win, 89-65. “We were down by as much as 14 points at one stage, so to turn that around shows the fighting quality that the group has this year,” coach David Herbert said. “They want to win, they want to play for each other and that’s a really pleasing thing.” With Bunton’s knee injury ruling her out of the remainder of the SEABL season, Herbert looked to Ebony Rolph to shoulder much of the heavy lifting and she responded brilliantly with a 37-minute game that yielded 16 points and 10 rebounds. “Ebony was outstanding, she can do whatever she wants in the sport of basketball,” Herbert said. “She stayed focused, she did whatever I asked her to do and it really reaped benefits. “We changed what we were doing at halftime and she adapted to that. “I know what she’s capable of and I can see that from now to the end of the season she’s going to accelerate, and it’s so exciting.” Guard Isabella Brancatisano was another to shine with a double-double of 15 points and 10 boards, while regular standouts Sara Blicavs (24 points) and Chantel Horvat (21 points) maintained their recent rich vein of form as Geelong refined its processes a month out from a finals series that holds enormous promise for title contention. “Isa Brancatisano was unbelievable,” Herbert said of one of the smallest players in the Supercats’ program. “The great thing was that everyone who took the floor did some good things.” The hefty margin looked unlikely early as Bendigo seized the first-break advantage by five points, before maintaining the margin at the main interval. However, in a dramatic turn in productivity Geelong scorched the Lady Braves for 26 third-quarter points, while leaking just seven through its stiflingly tight defence. It was a stanza from which the host could not recover with the visitors to Bendigo Stadium landing a 24-14 final period culminating in the confidence-boosting 24-point success. While little separated the two sides in most statistical categories, it was Geelong’s hammering of the host on the glass, 55-32, that set the two sides apart. Herbert’s line-up allowed the Lady Braves just four offensive rebounds for the entire game. GEELONG: S. Blicavs 24 points, nine rebounds; C. Horvat 21 points, nine rebounds; E. Rolph 16 points, 10 rebounds. BENDIGO: C. Black 21 points; B. Dufelmeier 12 points; T. Cannan 11 points.
LUINA GEELONG SUPERCATS SEABL WOMEN Number
Full Name
Position
Player Sponsor
Age
2
Ellen Kett
Guard
23
5
Alex Duck
Guard
26
8
Agnes Emma-Nnopu
Guard/Forward
16
9
Chantel Horvat
Forward
18
13
Alex Bunton
Centre
23
15
Sara Blicavs
Forward
24
20
Ebony Rolph
Forward
22
24
Isabella Brancatisano
Guard
22
19
Georgia Tauschke
Guard
21
30
Charlotte Brancatisano Guard
20
44
Eve Braslis
Forward
17
98
Alisha Knights
Guard
15
Head Coach Assistant Coaches Team Manager & Assistant Team Managers Strength & Conditioning Coach Physio
David Herbert Glenn Sharp & Darren Busuttil Beth Davis, Marcus Lovell & Malik Davis Chelsey Cameron provided by Corio Bay Health Group
SANDRINGHAM SABRES SEABL WOMEN Number
Full Name
Position
Age
4
Deanne Jolliffe
Guard
24
5
Morgan Riley
Guard
22
7
Shannon Perrett
Guard
24
9
Brittany Smart
Guard
32
10
Katie Bugden
Guard
19
11
Jessica Bygate
Forward
25
13
Jasmine Gill
Guard
26
22
Carly Chatfield
Centre
23
23
Ella Batish
Centre
18
24
Mel Prior
Centre
22
Nicole Romeo
Guard
Assistant Coach
Simon Giovanonni Julie Brookhouse
Team Manager
Kelly Cigognini
Head Coach
NEXT HOME GAME FRIDAY 28th JULY vs NUNAWADING WOMEN 6pm | MEN 8pm
LUINA GEELONG SUPERCATS SEABL MEN Number
Full Name
Position
Player Sponsor
Age
5
DeMarcus Gatlin
Combo Guard
24
8
Kris Blicavs
Combo Guard
28
9
Nick Owusu
Point Guard
32
11
Nathan Herbert
Shooting Guard
32
15
Ma'alo Hicks
Power Forward
29
17
Nathan Freind
Guard
26
21
Kristian Rocci
Shooting Guard
23
24
Liam McInerney
Power Forward
26
42
Eric Gaff
Centre
30
52
Jamie Medved
Shooting Guard
34
54
Ash Cannan
Power Forward
35
Head Coach Assistant Coach Team Manager & Assistant Team Managers Physio
Leon O’Neill Luke Beauglehall Jesse Drever, Nathan Scarlett & Marcus Lovell provided by Corio Bay Health Group
SANDINGHAM SABRES SEABL MEN Number
Full Name
Position
Age
4
Lachlan Lemons
Guard
19
5
Jamie Batish
Guard
23
6
Jerry Evans
Forward
26
7
Alister MacDonald
Guard
24
9
Stefan Uzelac
Guard
23
11
Finn Kenny
Forward
21
10
Nathan Crosswell
Guard
37
12
Daniel Florance
Forward
24
13
Iggy Hadziomorevic
Guard
22
14
Alex Lemons
Forward
22
21
Ethan Oday
Centre
24
Sinisa Markovic
Head Coach Assistant Coach
Milan Stojic
Team Manger
Tony Barca
NEXT HOME GAME FRIDAY 28th JULY vs NUNAWADING WOMEN 6pm | MEN 8pm
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