Rangers relish road double win

By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG has emerged from a daunting road double to claim a top-three spot in the Big V Championship Women’s division.
The Rangers upset the highly fancied Waverley Falcons in their own nest on Saturday night, before travelling to Sandringham on Sunday to defeat the dangerous Sabres.
The back-to-back triumphs take Dandenong’s win-loss ratio to 8-4 for the season – a record that may have seemed out of reach just three weeks ago.
The Rangers have now won five of their past six games, and perhaps the most impressive was Saturday night’s 58-44 result against second-placed Waverley (8-2).
After trailing by one point at half-time, Dandenong’s swarming defence reduced the Falcons to a one-woman show in the second half, as former Rangers Women’s National Basketball League player Kathleen MacLeod scored 29 points on 12 of 22 from the field.
Meanwhile, Dandenong trio Faith Probst (15 points), Mel Colcott (14) and Demelza Waixel (10) combined to guide their team to a match-winning 32-17 second half.
And the Rangers were no less stingy on defence against the Sabres on Sunday, conceding just 14 points to the home team in the first half to set up a match-winning 17-point lead at the main break.
Probst was again prominent, with 16 points in just 23 minutes of action, but an even spread of scorers ushered the Rangers home in a canter, 60-43.
Meanwhile, Dandenong’s Championship Men encountered little trouble in their weekend double header against Warrnambool and Ringwood.
The Rangers torched the hapless Seahawks 105-59 at Stud Road on Saturday night, as Dandenong’s acclaimed ‘big three’ – Ash Cannan (26, 11 rebounds), Brent Hobba (23) and Vince Inglima (21) – put in a characteristically dominant performance.
Maybe more impressive was Dandenong’s 128-98 win at Ringwood on Sunday, when six Rangers scored in double figures to trump a Hawks team led by forward Luke McMillan (28) and American guard John White (21).
The Rangers men, with a record of 10-1 and in second place, will now host Diamond Valley from 8pm on Saturday night, while the women will be hoping to continue their resurgence when they play Geelong at Stud Road from 2pm on Sunday.