By JARROD POTTER
QUEENSLAND sun shone brightly on the visiting Dandenong Rangers this weekend – with a pair of wins coming back to Victoria in their luggage.
Dandenong opened its account on Friday night with a thumping 95-62 win over Logan.
Foot on the throttle basketball for the first half gave Dandenong a 50-30 lead before Mark Wright went to the bench and gave his extended roster a long run ahead of the Saturday night clash against Townsville.
Dandenong was on fire against Logan – shooting 57 per cent from the field and a whopping 46 per cent from beyond the perimeter. Logan missed the experience of Opals’ star Hanna Zavecz and subsequently couldn’t stop Rangers’ guard pair Jenna O’Hea (25 points, 6 rebounds) – who shot amazingly well for 90 per cent from the field – and Leilani Mitchell (18 points) – 87 per cent field shooting – from lighting up Logan Metro early in the match. Kayla Pedersen (8 points, 6 rebounds), O’Hea and Mitchell all received lighter workloads on Friday night, granting the likes of Brigitte Ardossi (11 points, 7 rebounds) and Lauren Scherf (12 points) an extended run on court, which was seized with aplomb.
A harder fixture awaited Dandenong on Saturday night, but the Rangers managed to prevail 85-70 over Townsville.
The Fire couldn’t scorch Dandenong down the stretch – with the Rangers posting 44 second-half points to Townsville’s 32. Alice Kunek (15 points, 7 rebounds) led the scorers for the Rangers with Ardossi (14 points), Pedersen (14 points) and O’Hea (12 points and 9 rebounds) getting on the scoreboard.
Dandenong betters its home-and-away record to 12-5 – four adrift of ladder leader Bendigo – and hosts Townsville at home on Sunday afternoon from 1pm.
