Goldminers currently sit in fifth place and will look to continue the positive signs they showed last round at Minto, where they won two out of three matches.

Captain Teagan Burke is expected to make her long-awaited return to the Bathurst squad this round in a big boost to the team’s offensive play.

The Tigers are a very basketball-starved side this season, with just three games played so far compared to the Goldminers’ five.

From what she’s seen from the team so far, Goldminers’ coach Jo Cafe expects her side to match up well with the Tigers.

“They’ve got a lot of experience and they played well at the central venue round. It’s their first year back in State League for a while. Those couple of experienced players they’ve got are their top scorers. Hopefully it’ll be a good match up for us but I’d be disappointed if we didn’t win,” she said.

“They’re a similar team to us in that they haven’t really got any big girls, a couple of good quality guards and they’ve got some strong young players coming through.”

Burke’s knee injury, which she picked up last season, has kept her in the assistant coach role on the sidelines, but Cafe will be happy to see her back on court.

“It’s a week-by-week prospect at the moment. She’s been playing, started last week in our women’s comp, which is positive. It’s been a process for her and a big injury so it’s tough coming back,” she said.

“She irreplaceable really, with her experience. All our training and playing since she’s been back have been great. She’s such a smart player and when you’ve got a team that’s pretty young you need someone like that who’s going to take charge and control things on the floor.”

Last round Goldminers picked up wins over Coffs Harbour Suns and Inner West Bulls, but went down by eight to competition leaders Maitland Mustangs in the final game.

If that round was anything to go by, Cafe expects great things to come out of tomorrow’s game.

“We’ve been continuing to develop our offences. We were really pleased with our central venue round. Things clicked. Defensively we were good and fitness and finishing were a lot better,” she said.

“We’ve got to keep building on those things and develop some combinations.”