TEAGAN Burke showed why she deserves to be considered the women’s State League basketball’s unstoppable force this season when her three straight 30-plus point matches helped the Bathurst Goldminers side to a trio of wins over the weekend.
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Burke hit a weekend-high 38 points in a 102-43 win over the Port Macquarie Dolphins on Saturday at Minto before sinking 30 against the Coffs Harbour Suns in the evening in a 64-47 win.
The Goldminers then travelled the following morning to challenge the Goulburn Bears on their home court and prevailed again 78-57. Burke finished with 35 to her name.
From four games, the Gold-miners assistant coach now has an intimidating average points-per-game of 32.7.
The Bathurst side now lead the competition with four wins from as many games.
What was expected to be a mismatch in height for the Goldminers turned out to be their easiest win in the opening match against the Dolphins.
“That was a big shock, being the first game. They were the team with two big, former college players. The plan was to run them off their feet and they did just that,” Goldminers coach Jo Cafe said.
“We got it out to 61-22 at half-time and the game was pretty much over by that point. We were targeting their big players, so we hoped their guards weren’t as strong, and they weren’t.
“We have 10 players who are very evenly matched – apart from Teagan and Rachel [Murray] – and that allows us a lot of flexibility off the bench.”
The Dolphins were never in the match, the Goldminers running out to a 26-8 lead at quarter time.
Pressure on the Dolphins’ guards forced a multitude of turnovers in the Goldminers’ favour all match.
That same pressure would be the undoing of the Suns, but they managed to make a much closer game out of the opening half against the Goldminers.
With the score at 35-28 in Bathurst’s favour at the main break, things started to turn against the Suns as Murray came to the fore.
The Goulburn win was a different game altogether for the Goldminers.
“We had no Chelsea [Noon] or Rachel there. It was a much rougher game and in the end we were just looking to get to the end of it with no injuries,” Cafe said.
“There were some very tired and stiff girls by the end of the three games.
“A big positive for us was Olivia Patterson and Alysha Booth both slotting in well into the team. It was their first games and neither of them played last year, but they did very well.”
The Goldminers’ next match – their third meeting of the season against the Bears – will not be until May 23.
“We’ll continue to work on our offences. They’re in place now, but we can build more on top of what we’re already doing,” Cafe said.
“All the teams we played, apart from Goulburn, play man on man.
“We’ll need to work a bit more on our zone offence. Teams like Maitland and Wagga like to play it, so we’ve got to make sure we get it right.”
BATHURST GOLDMINERS 102 (Teagan Burke 38, Chelsea Noon 28, Bronte Emanuel 10) defeated PORT MACQUARIE DOLPHINS 43, BATHURST 64 (Burke 30, Rachel Murray 18, Emanuel 8) defeated COFFS HARBOUR SUNS 47 and BATHURST 78 (Burke 35, Olivia Patterson 14, Emanuel 11) defeated GOULBURN BEARS 57
