There was a considerable shake-up in South East Coast Basketball Men’s round of matches last Wednesday night when Cougars inflicted a first loss on Summer Premier Panthers and the Berkefeld brothers had to find that little bit extra to get Bulldogs home against a tenacious Millicent at home. In the meantime Panthers-Wizards are on track to go one better than their runner-up tag of last season with a solid win over the recently regrouped Roos.

These results see four teams, Panthers, Cougars, Wizards and Bulldogs, all with a 2/1 win/loss record.

Cougars Women fielded their strongest line-up for the season and made a statement against              Panthers in the form of an impressive double figure win. Bulldogs Women, despite having just five players suiting up, travelled to Millicent and after the first quarter, were competitive.

Cougars lead the table from Panthers and Roos at this early stage of the season.

Wizards’ trio Nick Morrison, Matt Parslow and Peter Loring set up a potential match winning margin in the first half of their game against Roos.  Lukass Blicavs and Mark Bachmann however responded strongly to match the scoring rate of Wizards in the run home.

Millicent played its best game of the season against Bulldogs at home. Juniors Josh Murphy and Jed Telfer gave the home side a solid start while Stephen Sochacki led the scoring for Bulldogs. The game took on a different complexion in the second half when the Berkefelds took control for a 37 point quarter. The high rate of scoring continued by both sides in the final ten minutes for final numbers of 105-80. Top scorers for the game were Sochacki with 28 and Murphy on 23.

After a rather slow start the Cougars/ Panthers clash stepped up in momentum as Cougars hit the front at the main break, 35-32. Sam Stafford and Trent Phillips led the way for Cougars. From here on Cougars added to their small winning margin in each quarter to run out winners, 73-68. Kane deWit scored 26 points for Cougars while Jak Ryan scored a game high 28 points for Panthers.

Cougars Women displayed their trademark confidence of previous seasons to assume early control of the game against Panthers. Georgia Green set up a 5 point lead with a personal tally of 9. Defence dominated the next two periods, but Cougars again broke free for a 13 point win. Green scored a game high 19 points and junior team-mate Casey Horrigan 13 along with 10 points from Ebony Cunningham. In contrast Brianna Walters was the only Panthers’ player to score double figures, 15.

Millicent women got away to a flying start against an under-manned Bulldogs, but then were involved in a defensive struggle for the next two quarters. The final quarter became the Sarah Allen show as she dominated the scoreboard for Millicent and finished with 22 points. Leading scorers for Bulldogs were Karli McDiarmid and Teagan Gray.

This week’s fixture is for the Men: Roos v Panthers, Wizards v Millicent and match of the night, Cougars v Bulldogs.

Women: Bulldogs v Cougars and game of the round, Roos v Millicent