WITH a NSW Basketball women’s Youth League finals campaign still a possibility, the Bathurst Goldminers are intent on owning their home court this Sunday.

After a string of tough away matches in the middle of their season, the Goldminers had hoped more games at the Bathurst Indoor Stadium would lead to a rise up the ladder.

However, winning at home has proved tough, so coach Jo Cafe wants to see her players lift when they take on the Sydney Comets on Sunday. 

She feels her team is a chance of upsetting the currently fourth placed outfit.

“It’s definitely a winnable game for us. It was one of those games [last time played] where we played three good quarters of basketball and then one poor one,” she said.

“They have had a very up and down season and how they play has been very dependent on who they’ve had playing for them on the day. I know they’ve got a few ABA players they can use.

“They have one particularly strong player who’s a good three-point shooter and put 36 points on us last game, so we’ll be out to limit how much she scores.”

The two big offensive weapons in the Comets line-up are Alex Delaney and Jasmine Smith. While they have played just over half of Sydney’s 14 matches so far, they have scored 307 points between them.

They rank amongst the league’s top 10 scorers, but Bathurst do have Chelsea Noon (113 points from seven games) on that list as well. She will take to the court on Sunday.

The last time the two sides met, the Comets held a small 36-30 lead at half-time, but it blew out to a final score of 83-64.

That was one of seven wins for them this season. While the Goldminers have three less wins, they also have two games in hand on the Comets so could make up handy ground if they can win on Sunday.

In order to do that, Cafe thinks her side needs to display better cohesion on court.

“We’ll concentrating on cementing our offences and being more consistent with them. I think it [team chemistry] still needs some work, but saying that ... every girl in this team will be able to play Youth League basketball again next year,” she said.

Bronte Emanuel will be absent for the Goldminers while Ashleigh Taylor is unlikely to start as she nurses an injured ankle she sustained last Saturday.

The weekend was originally penned in as a double-header for Bathurst, with a match against the Central Coast Crusaders scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

However, Central Coast requested a deferment due to their players being involved in this weekend’s state championships. The two will now meet on August 17.

Sunday’s match at the Bathurst Indoor Stadium is set to commence at 1pm.

BATHURST GOLDMINERS: Katelyn Bower, Hannah Cafe, Bronte Covington, Laycee Covington-Gorst, Laura Hunter, Jess Matthews, Chelsea Noon, Riley Smith, Brodie Taylor.