By Lachlan Mitchell
Casey Cavaliers were back on court in a monumental way over the weekend as they travelled south to Tasmania for the first time in their short NBL1 history to face the Hobart Chargers, Launceston Tornadoes and North-West Thunder.
Both the men and women teams featured in frantic double-headers over Saturday and Sunday.
The women were up on court first and took on the Chargers on Saturday evening.
A fast and agile start from the Cavaliers saw them lunge out to a 29-14 opening term.
Monique Conti and Louise Brown got Casey off to the ideal start.
Conti was lethal from beyond the arc scoring eight points in the opening term to give her side a handy lead.
An even second term continued to see Casey hold sway by 15-points.
Brown found her range hammering home a trifecta of threes.
The second half was more of the same from the Cavaliers as they continued to keep the margin out to beyond 15.
A final-term burst from the Cavaliers saw the final margin spill out to 18 in the 55-73 final score.
Conti finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Brown put on a game-high 18 points to seal victory.
The Cavs men suffered a heart-breaking 79-82 point loss to the Chargers straight after the women’s game. Casey grabbed the lead with just over 90 seconds left on the clock but a Chargers three-pointer sunk the Cavs with 32 seconds left.
William Hickey had a last-second fade-away jumper from the side line to even the score and send the game to overtime, but narrowly missed.
Hickey finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in the heart-breaking loss.
Sunday saw the men face the North West Tasmania Thunder, while the women faced the Launceston Thunder.
The men had a confidence boosting 71-102 win over the Thunder in Ulverston.
Cavaliers Matthew Donlan scored 23 points with 63 per cent from the three-point line.
Hickey and Jordan Bell had a great day on offence and defence with 12 and 11 rebounds respectively.
The women also had a day to remember with a stirring 71-85 win over the Tornadoes.
Taylah Gilliam scored 29 points in the triumph.
The women picked up 2-2 from their Tassie trip.
Cavaliers’ women’s coach Alex Palazzolo was impressed with his side’s ability to get the wins after back-to-back games on the road.
“It was nice to get two good wins,” he said.
“Going against Launceston on Saturday night, it was always going to be a tough gig and probably the best game we have played all season.”
The Cavaliers had to rally late in the third-quarter against the Chargers, after missing a few early shots.
“We had a really bad patch in the last five minutes of the quarter, we had a few break downs and offensively we didn’t have the best shot selection,” Palazzolo explained.
The side is in full spirits’ after an exhausting weekend.
“They were tired on the way back to Melbourne and have had a few days to recover,” Palazzolo said.
The Cavaliers have the week off for the Queen’s Birthday weekend and face the Sandringham Sabres on June 18.
