Date: Wed, July 28, 2010

Miners make it 2 from 2 

The Ballarat D League Miners have stretched their winning streak to 12 games after beating Frankston and Sandringham on the weekend.
 
The two wins have seen the Miners remain on top of the ladder with only two games left to play. However, the minor premiership will be up for grabs when they take on second placed Nunawading next weekend.
 
It was a mixed bag of results for the Miners as Josh Wilcher returned to the court after being sidelined by injury for the past 8 weeks. But the positives were partly overshadowed by negatives as Jeff Crowe suffered a badly injured hand in Saturday night’s game and will most likely be out for the rest of the season.
 
Ballarat battled against last placed Frankston on Saturday to scrape over the line, winning by 5 points. Liam Glascott managed 22 points and 7 rebounds while Stefan Osborne had 23 points.
 
Ballarat then backed up against Sandringham on Sunday where they stole the victory by 3 points in overtime. The Miners struggled to put a lid on their early performance when they built a 12 point lead. Sandringham, who the Miners have trouble matching up against, kept the game within their reach and took the lead at one stage in the final quarter.
 
However, the Miners held strong in the extra period to take out the victory 84 – 81.
 
Coach Grant Spencer “Ash Constable starred in his third game for the season for us on Sunday which was a positive sign. We’re now looking forward to next week and hopefully securing top spot.”
 
Meanwhile, the D League Lady Miners have seen their finals hopes disappear after losing to Sandringham on Sunday by 9 points. The women will now have to play out the season aiming to finish in 5th spot.
 
The signs were promising in the first half for Ballarat as they managed to keep the scores level at the major break. However, a 24 - 8 third quarter saw the Sabres take a 16 point lead going into the final quarter.
 
Ballarat managed to turn their game around in the final term but it was too little too late as Sandringham went on to win 64 – 55.
 
Cortney Williamson led the way in the scoring for Ballarat with 13 points. Sandringham’s Kate Gaze led all scorers with 21.

Full Fixtures, Ladders and Results available here