It was a weekend to forget for the Casey Cavaliers.
In a bumper weekend of NBL1 South – with a double-header for both the Men’s and Women’s sides – the Cavs suffered defeat in each of the four fixtures.
In the first of the two losses for the women, the Cavs side fell just short of Ringwood 74-77.
The Cavs were within striking distance – courtesy of a Rachel Bell layup – with 39 seconds on the clock.
But a Digna Strautmane dagger from three pushed the lead out to five with just 17 seconds remaining, allowing the Hawks to foul, regain possession and drain the clock.
Sarah Boothe (23 points and 17 rebounds) was yet again excellent, but it was Louise Brown that stuffed the stat sheet, putting up just 11 points, but bringing down a stupendous 25 rebounds.
A huge 17 of her boards came at the defensive end in the tight loss.
In the following match-up – against Bendigo – it was a vastly different score line.
The Cavs were blown out of the water by the Braves, 69 to 100.
It was just a two-point margin at the end of the first period, but with poor second and fourth quarters, the deficit ballooned out.
Disappointingly, the Braves managed to add a further seven points with just five seconds remaining in the dying stages of the match.
The Men’s Cavs side had a similar weekend.
A poor first period ultimately cost the Cavs on Saturday night against Ringwood, as the home unit collectively won the final three quarters in the 80 to 89 loss.
William Hickey was impressive for the Cavs, recording 33 points and six rebounds, while shooting 40 per cent from beyond the arc.
It was another narrow defeat the following day for the Cavs, this time at the hands of the Bendigo Braves at Red Energy Arena in Bendigo.
Matthew Donlan led the way with 15 points from 11 attempts.
It’s another double-header weekend for Casey this week, with two road games against Sandringham and Waverly over the course of Saturday and Sunday.
