THE Bathurst Goldminers went into the weekend’s women’s State League double-header knowing that a win against struggling Tamworth was almost a given, but a victory against Newcastle could be enough to get them into second spot.
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They duly headed to Sydney and ticked off the first box on Saturday night with a big result against Tamworth, winning 101-62, before making it two from two with a clinical 85-56 result over Newcastle.
The team’s two most experienced players, Teagan Burke and Rachel Murray, were in sparkling form, scoring 112 of their side’s 186 points between them.
“Everything went to plan. The Tamworth game was a bit of a case of going through the motions because they only had a squad of eight players and they had two more games to worry about,” ’Miners coach Jo Cafe said.
“We worked on cementing a few things in terms of communication and running through our offensive patterns. With due respect to Tamworth, it was an expected result.
“The big focus was Newcastle. After we beat Tamworth we watched Wagga Wagga and Maitland, and with Wagga winning that game the opportunity was there to jump into second spot if we could win our Sunday game.
“We played our best game of the season, I think. We had everyone in good form and eight of our nine players were part of the squad last year, so there was a real cohesion and an understanding across the court throughout the game.”
Bathurst led by seven points at the first change against Tamworth, and a 33-12 second quarter meant that they held a 28-point lead at half-time.
They cruised home to win with Murray posting 31 points and Burke 23, a rare instance in which the latter gets outscored by any of her team-mates.
Newcastle were tougher, but the ’Miners came out firing and took a 25-14 lead at the first break and 45-31 at half-time.
A 19-5 run in the third term ensured there was no comeback from the Hunters, and Burke sent a gentle reminder as to her scoring pedigree by posting 37 for the game, while Murray had 21 and Emily Matthews 15.
“Rachel was awesome. Having Teagan there frees her up a bit because there is so much defensive focus on shutting down Teagan, it often gives Rachel more room to move and she can get closer to the basket,” Cafe said.
“She is a good outside shooter, but she’s also very strong on the inside and she showed that in both games.
“Her defence, as always, was outstanding, too. But everyone was in sync on the weekend and we were delighted with the outcome of the two matches.”
BATHURST GOLDMINERS 101 (Rachel Murray 31, Teagan Burke 23, Laycee Covington-Gorst 12) defeated TAMWORTH 62 (Emily Bailey 28)
BATHURST GOLDMINERS 85 (Teagan Burke 37, Rachel Murray 21, Emily Matthews 15) defeated NEWCASTLE 56 (Samantha Hewitt 20)
