Hume City Broncos showed they can’t be discounted in the race for Big V women’s championship division finals by ending Sunbury Jets’ winning streak.
The Broncos, last year’s champions, have struggled this season, even enduring a patch of seven losses in a row.
Last year, they lost one game for the season.
After getting back on the winners’ list in the last round, the Broncos faced the biggest test in the Big V – taking on the undefeated Sunbury Jets.
The Jets entered the game not having lost since 2015.
The Broncos caught the Jets, who are renowned fast-starters, on the hop early and lad by as much as 12 points in the first quarter.
The lead reached a game-high 14 points in the second quarter, before the Jets started to work into the game.
By the time it came to the final quarter, there was nothing in it – the teams went basket for basket, with Sunbury levelling the score on several occasions.
But the Broncos held on for a 70-67 victory.
For coach Glen Milner, it was a result they’d been building to over the last few weeks.
“It makes a huge difference when you have all your personnel,” he said.
“We’ve had good training sessions and had a good game-plan going into the game.
“It was a high-quality game and a great match to watch.”
Milner said the key to beating the Jets was shutting down their transition basketball.
“They’re a team that likes to run,” he said. “We put in a defence system in place which made them take some poor shots.
“We also made sure that when we were going to shoot, that every shot was a high-quality shot. They like it when you put shots up in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock.”
Colleen Planeta scored 23 points and had 14 rebounds for the Broncos, while Erika Livermore played the whole 40 minutes, scoring 19 points and having 10 boards.
Milner was also impressed with the job Viv Saad did on Orla O’Reilly.
The win moves the Broncos to eighth spot with five wins.
Milner knows that they need to keep winning if they are to play finals. This year there will be a final six for mat, but the Broncos are targeting the top four.
One thing the Broncos are hoping for in the run home is a full roster.
They lost import Samantha Guastella and Sarah Wright decided to focus on football.
In recent weeks, they gained Livermore and regained Planeta, helping in the height department.
Nicole Zammit, who has missed several games, should be right for the rest of the season, while Natalie Karantzoulis is back from overseas.
“We have to make sure we’re winning to be in the mix for top four,” Milner said.
“We’re aiming for the top four and that is achievable with the other results that have been happening.”
