Knox Ford Raiders women’s import Ashlee Dunlap puts a score on the board for her new team.KNOX Ford Raiders women kicked off Saturday’s basketball double-header at Knox Converse Stadium with an impressive 80-63 win over intra-state rivals Frankston Lady Blues.
In her first game in front of her new home crowd, Chantella Perera put on a fantastic shooting display, recording 27 points, which included a perfect 12 from 12 from the free throw line.
Import Ashlee Dunlap continues to improve each game and looked more confident on the offensive end scoring 14 points to go with 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots.
Point guard Sarah Graham was a solid contributor coming off the bench with 17 points and 3 assists.
The Raiders led at every break and managed to get all 12 players involved in the action.
Star Lady Blues player, Kylie Jordan finished the game with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists but was troubled all game by Perera who put the clamps on Jordan defensively.
Former Raider Julie Ofsoski showed she can still hoop with the best of them finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Head coach Heath Anderson was very pleased with the result in front of a good second consecutive game home crowd.
“It was a really positive performance for the girls. They executed well at the start of the game, which set up a good buffer for us for the rest of the game,” said Anderson.
Meanwhile, the men faced off against a 3-0 North West Tasmania Thunder team that was coming off a win against Mt. Gambier on Friday night and were full of confidence.
They played with that confidence to earn themselves a 31-20 lead at the first intermission.
The Raiders couldn’t find much offensively and looked stunned, however, after a quarter time rocket was lit under them by coach Graeme Longstaff, the Raiders responded in the second term outscoring the Thunder 29-15 to take a 3 point lead into the main break.
With nearly 1,000 vocal Raiders fans behind them on a hot night in the stadium, Knox spoiled their fans with a 27-8 third term to set up a 22 point lead going into the final quarter.
They never looked back getting great offensive production from star CJ Massingale (29 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Lester Strong who found his feet and tallied 19 points, 15 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks.
When the final siren sounded, it was the Raiders victorious by 105-76.
Other contributions for the Raiders came from Paul McMaster, who played a highly efficient game with 16 points on 88 per cent shooting from the field, and Glenn Siegle and Nick Payne both chipped in with 11 points each.
The Thunder were led by veteran guard Ben Armstrong with 26 points.
The Raiders are now turning their sights on their next clash on Thursday night when they plan to regain the Cystic Fibrosis Cup as they take on long time arch-rival Kilsyth Cobras at Knox Converse Stadium.
The Raiders and the Cobras will battle it out for the cup in what will mark the third year the event has been held.
The Cystic Fibrosis Cup initiative was first introduced in 2006 when the two biggest basketball associations in Australia discovered they each had a child playing in their competition who suffered from the life-threatening disorder.
In its inaugural year, the Raiders were victorious in claiming the cup, however, it was the Cobras who bit back last year and took it up the road to the Snake pit.
The cup is up for grabs each SEABL season when Knox host Kilsyth in a men’s and women’s double-header at Knox Converse Stadium, with the winner coming from the highest cumulative score from both games.
Fans are encouraged to get down to Knox Converse Stadium, Park Cres, Boronia this Thursday night to witness sports rivalry at its best. The women will tip-off at 6.30pm and the men at 8.30pm.
Entry is just $10 for families, $5 for adults and $2 for children.
