By Tara Murray
Wyndham made a positive start to the Big V women’s champ season despite going down to the Sherbrooke Suns on Sunday.
With a brand new side and new coach, things will take a while to fall into place for the team.
Coach Jason Bryant said the group showed a lot of determination and grit throughout the game. No players from last season’s championship side have returned this season.
“We have plenty to work on but are optimistic about the season and the growth that lies ahead,” he said.
“It was our first outing with a new look champ women’s team including newly arrived athletes Briana Bailey and Sydney Skinner, both who have been here less than two weeks
“Despite the loss it was a solid start to the season for the team with a lot of growth and improvement to come.”
The Suns took an early lead, leading by nine points at quarter time. The margin blew out to 20 points before Wyndham got back into the game.
Bryant said with a hard effort from everyone they were able to reduce the margin back to three points.
Foul trouble hurt Wyndham late to allow the Suns to come away with a 78-68 win.
Skinner, who played the whole 40 minutes, scored 23 points, had 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals in her Wyndham debut.
Bailey had 16 points, six rebounds and four steals, while Chelsea Suemai 10 points and nine rebounds.
Wyndham’s men’s championship side started its season with a loss to the Keysborough Cougars.
It was an even first half with Wyndham leading by one point at the main break.
The Cougars then got going and were able to come away with a 97-84 win.
Malik Miller top scored for Wyndham with 27 points along with nine rebounds.
Coach Stuart McMurray said despite only having eight players for round one they showed a lot of resilience against the opposing team and their home crowd.
“Some fantastic performances from both Malik Miller on the offensive end and Xavier Cotton on the glass.
“The game was close until it unfortunately got away from the defending champs at the end with Keysborough knocking down some late free throws to extend the lead out to beyond our reach.”
In the youth league men’s division 1 competition, Wyndham suffered two losses.
The first was a thriller to the Hume City Broncos on Saturday night, with the Broncos winning 97-95.
The Broncos made some big plays down the stretch to get the win.
Gojco Stevkovski had 14 points, three rebounds, one assist and two steals, while Jordan Adams had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Spencer Smith had 16 points and six rebounds.
On Sunday against the Cougars, Wyndham ran out of legs in the final quarter, losing 103-75.
In youth league women division 1, Wyndham lost to the Broncos, 71-49.
Ayan Ali top scored with 12 points off the bench.
Tara Murray
