2017 program Game 10 v Sandringham Sabres

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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