By ROY WARD
DANDENONG Rangers women made the most of their possessions and opportunities to notch a hard-fought win over Sandringham Sabres in the SEABL on Saturday night.
Coming off a disappointing loss to Canberra Capitals Academy last round, the Rangers needed to get the win against a strong Sabres side that featured WNBL star Micaela Cocks and a host of former Rangers such as Alison Downie, Hope Terdich, Sam Woosnam and long-time Rangers coach Alex Palazzolo.
The Rangers scored a 69-62 win after a battle in the final term. The Sabres got within a point midway through the quarter before Amelia Todhunter (14 points, eight assists) and Clare Papavs (15 points) made sure the home side got back in front and stayed there.
Sabres guard Kate Malpass was the game’s high scorer with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists while Cocks added 16 points.
Rangers coach Paul Flynn slimmed down his rotations in the second half with his leading six players playing the majority of the half.
He said his leaders had taken the team to victory. “We needed to make the most of every possession and had to protect the basketball, so I went with our more experienced players.
“The younger our line-up gets the more turnovers we seem to make, but that will improve over the season.”
Flynn said his players were very keen to win the match against so many former Rangers.
“But we also had to win this match because they are such a strong side and we had dropped a game we didn’t expect to drop last round.”
■ Dandenong Rangers men are also back on the winners’ list with an impressive 94-83 win over Sandringham Sabres at Dandenong Stadium on Saturday night.
The Rangers, without starting point guard Andrew Harms, scored the much-needed win on the back of 28 points from Daqeuon Montreal.
Emerging Rangers point guard Lucas Barker was back in the team after his first season of US college basketball.
The Rangers men and women play Bendigo Braves in Bendigo from 6pm this Saturday.
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