By Marcus Uhe
A pair of wins to the Dandenong Rangers women’s squad over the weekend has seen them rocket up the NBL1 South competition’s standings to ninth.
A disastrous opening quarter saw them fall behind by 16 points on Saturday night at the first break but launch a miraculous comeback in the final period to score a 78-71 win over Launceston.
A tremendous two-way quarter saw the Rangers outscore their Tasmanian opponents 25-9, led by Nyadiew Puoch’s 24 points and six rebounds.
On Sunday, an extraordinary third quarter in which the Rangers women outscored Nunawading 32-2 was the key in turning around an 11-point half time deficit.
The Spectres were held to just one field goal, made midway through the third quarter, in the spectacular performance, as Dandenong continued on to win 80-63.
Pouch top-scored again with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Sarah Boothe (19 point 10 rebounds) and Amber Smith (13 points 10 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles.
The men fell just short of completing a remarkable comeback of their own against North West Tasmania on Saturday, with a poor opening three quarters seeing them trail by 20 points at the beginning of the final quarter.
The fourth quarter, however, was a three-point shooting barrage.
Dandenong made six in the final period as they mounted a charge to reduce the deficit and return to the winners’ list.
Six were made in the final term, with none more important than Jack Roberts’ third with 14 seconds remaining.
Down by eight at the beginning of the last minute of play, Deng Puoch cut the lead to six before North West Tasmania nailed a pair of free-throws.
Jacob Eyman followed a miss with a put back, and the Rangers caught a break when their opponents this time missed a pair at the line.
Roberts was then fouled on a three at the top of the key to make it a one-possession contest, but missed the ensuing free throw to cut the lead to two.
They were forced to foul, and cashed-in on the miss on the second shot by streaking the floor for a layup on the fast break, and the lead was back to two.
Fouling again, the Thunder made one and missed the second, but Jesse Ghee fumbled the rebound and the ball stayed in the visitors’ hands with only seconds remaining.
The Thunder’s attempted tip shot was off line, but the final buzzer sounded as Elijah Duol grabbed the resulting rebound.
Against Nunawading on Sunday, a disastrous second half in which they were outscored 35-58 sunk their halftime lead in the 89-103 loss, leaving them still stuck on the bottom of the table.
Both sides will face Kilsyth on Saturday night in their next outings.
