James Murphy
MILLICENT MAGIC 79 d HORSHAM HORNETS 49
MILLICENT’s Country Basketball League women’s side has cemented itself in the top-two of the South West conference, with a solid 30-point win over Horsham Hornets on Saturday night.
The Magic entered the clash with a bolstered roster, having matched up with Mount Gambier last week as an understaffed outfit.
Emily Winter returned to the floor with a team-high 20-point effort, while youngster Poppy Venn shot 19.
Jasmin Howe (16 points) and Georgia Winter (15) also broke double figures in a well-rounded performance.
From coach Damien Venn’s perspective, it was a good solid win.
“We were solid without being outstanding,” he said.
“We probably got outscored in the third – we controlled the game early and they went into the zone in the third which disrupted us a little bit.
“I think we were only 15 up at three-quarter time, but ended up winning by 30.”
Millicent was able to run away with the game in the final stanza and drive the win home in convincing style.
The bulk of Horsham’s score came from Emalie Eredell with 22 points, but with only one other double-figure scorer the Magic’s depth proved too much.
On the Millicent offensive, most of the scoring was done from inside the three-point line, with long-range shots not producing too much for the Magic.
“It was one of those games where – outside of Poppy (Venn) – we didn’t hit a lot of outside shots,” Venn said.
However, with four double-figure scorers it did not affect the result too much, with plenty of avenues into the hoop.
Venn gave credit to both Poppy Venn and Howe, who he said were the best performers on the night.
Looking ahead the Magic will look for a big result over bottom-placed Terang on the road.
