James Murphy
A TOUGH weekend for the Magic women has them sitting in third place ahead of a five-round bye.
Millicent’s Country Basketball League women’s team was forced to forfeit Saturday night’s game against Warrnambool, before a tough clash at home against Colac dealt the side its third loss of the season.
The forfeit occurred due to a lack of players available, with state training, schoolies and injuries all contributing to the lack of personnel.
Looking to bounce back on Sunday, the Magic took to the court against the visiting Kookas.
However, a strong start by the guests had Millicent playing catch up ball for the rest of the game.
The Kookas scored 28 points in the opening term and at the first break led by nine.
The following quarters were all close, with the Magic dropping only four points for the rest of the clash.
However, the damage had already been done.
The second term was won by Colac by three points, before a high-scoring third quarter had both teams shoot 25.
The final stanza was another close contest and at the final buzzer the Magic lost the term by one point for a 76-89 point loss.
Millicent relied on the trio of Poppy Venn, Madison Haggett and Mia Gysbers for the bulk of the scoring.
Venn topped the sheets with 23 points, while Haggett and Gysbers scored 19 and 17 respectively.
Collectively they outscored Colac’s top three contributors, but with a bigger output down the order and more depth to call on, the Kookas came out on top.
As it stands Millicent’s women have played the most games of any team in the competition, with eight matches.
As a result they now face a lengthy hiatus with byes in the next five rounds.
Their next game will not be until the new year, with a Round 13 appearance against the Mount Gambier Lakers on January 13.
