Sale Sonics women’s and men’s teams hit the road over the weekend, travelling to Wonthaggi on Saturday night and then to Warragul on Sunday.
The Sale women had a tough game first up, facing last season’s Gippsland Country Basketball League champions Wonthaggi Coasters.
This didn’t intimidate the young squad though, who included debutant Tara McInnes, as the Sonics took the lead early and were up three points at the first break.
The game was a tight back-and-forth contest for the second and third quarters, but unfortunately after the long drive, the young squad just ran out of legs as the experienced Coasters squad was able to take control in the fourth to eventually win by 20 points.
Ash Centra and Tayli DiMarco top scored for the Sonics with 12 and 10 points respectively.
The women then had to refocus and prepare to face a strong and rested Warragul Warriors team.
The game started off neck-and-neck with scores tied at the first break.
The Sonics started to slowly get a lead in the second quarter, but after star player Centra fouled out before the half was over, Warragul was looking set to take control of the game.
However, behind the leadership of Bree Alexander and Kristy Glover and the fantastic play of Jemma Birss, the Sonics were able to increase their lead and eventually come away with a strong 15-point win, their first for the season.
Birss led the scoring with 22 points, while Centra managed to still put up 15 points in her half of play.
The Sale men’s team went into the weekend heavily depleted by injury, but were still confident they could come away with a win.
Another slow start hurt their aspirations though, as they quickly dropped behind a well-oiled Wonthaggi team by 20 points.
The Sonics were able to come out strong in the second half, displaying their offensive firepower with Jake Hutchins scoring at will at the rim, while the team showed their ability to play intense, hard-nosed defence.
Despite a strong fightback they just did not have enough left in the tank and eventually went down by nine points.
Hutchins top scored with 28 while Ben Dessent also added 20 points.
The team was even more depleted as they faced Warragul on Sunday because some players from the night before being unavailable to play.
This, however, allowed the opportunity for young Tom Matthews to make his debut with the senior squad.
The Sonics came out trying hard from the tip, with Hutchins starting things off with a smooth two-handed dunk, but it was quickly apparent that fatigue from the night before was taking its toll on the young bodies of the Sale team.
The more experienced Warriors team was able to execute cleanly on offence while making every possession tough for the Sale team and gradually grew the lead out to 30-plus points. Sale battled hard, with young guns Bailey Harrison, Eli Berry and debutant Matthews showing they have bright futures with some clean play, but it was just not enough as the Warriors ran away with a 43 point win.
Hutchins went back-to-back with top scoring as he dropped 28 points again, with his running mate Harper Fraser also adding on 20 points.
The Sonics will now shift their focus to Southern Peninsula as they prepare to face the Sharks this Sunday at the Gippsland Regional Sports Complex.
The women tip-off at 1pm with the men following at 3pm.
