Tara Murray
Wyndham’s depth has been on show in the Big V women’s state championship division.
Wyndham sits atop the ladder at the King’s Birthday weekend bye having continued to put some big scores on the board.
Coach Gerard Hillier said the break had come at the perfect time for them.
“We’ve had a bit of an illness, flu go through the team,” he said. “Amanda Paschal has been playing through injury the last couple of weeks.
“Our bench players have done a tremendous job and stepped up when they’ve needed to.
“We’ve still been getting wins with our bench players and kids are coming through.”
Hillier said there was a spread of players that had been stepping up and playing their roles when needed.
He said Mackenzie Drew was doing a good job coming on and holding down her position on the court, while Charlie McKinnon in her first season was also stepping up.
Bethany Theodore and Jasmine Goodman were a couple of others that had impressed him.
“They are coming off the bench and getting a good understanding of how we want to play and the pressure we want to have,” Hillier said.
Hillier said Paschal is putting out an even better season than what she did 12 months ago, when she won the most valuable award. She is averaging a competition high, 27.5 points per game.
Paschal rolled her ankle at training a few weeks ago and had managed to play through it, though on limited minutes.
“She rolled it and scored 30-plus points two days later,” Hillier said. “We weren’t sure that she was going to play.
“The other players are getting a better understanding of her game now and are complimenting the work that AP does, it makes us tougher to scout.
“She’s taken the next step up this season. Training with the Bendigo Spirit in the off season has seen her play at a higher level and big overall improvement in her leadership, which was always strong.”
Wyndham has a good test next couple of weeks against the Bulleen Boomers next Saturday and Bellarine Storm the following week.
Hillier said they know what areas they need to work on.
“They are second and third, it’ll be a good test for us,” he said. “At the offensive end we are averaging 95 per game which is really pleasing.
“The real focus will be on the defensive end.”
Wyndham’s men’s side which is also on top, will face the Blackburn Vikings in its next match.
