Sunbury Jets’ unbeaten streak continues after they came out on top in the top-of-the-table clash in Big V state championship women’s division.
Facing Knox Raiders, who had only lost one game before Saturday night’s match, the Jets’ knew they had to be on their game.
The Jets started well restricting the Raiders to just nine points in the first quarter.
The Raiders hit back in the second quarter to reduce the margin to five points at the main break.
The Jets saved their best for the third quarter, holding the Raiders to just six points and opening a game-winning lead of 16 points.
The Jets lost the last quarter by a point, but they had done enough, winning 63-48.
Jets’ coach Kennedy Kereama said it was a gutsy win against a challenging side.
“Defence was the difference in the game,” he said.
“I laid out a few challenges and they delivered the intensity and effort. They had a couple of players who we wanted to shut down and we did a good job. Defensively, it was a really good team effort.”
At the other end, it was the Jets’ talls who did the damage on the scoreboard. Josie Stockill scored a game-high 25 points, while Courtney Duever scored 19 points.
Kereama said both had really good games, but was quick to mention the work of the guards.
“The guards were finding them in the right places,” he said.
“It was definitely a real team effort and a good all-round game.”
The Jets’ remain on top of the ladder, with nine wins from as many games but Kereama said the challenges would continue to come.
“There’s a couple of teams which are getting more players into their groups.
“The second half of the season will look a lot different from the first half. Any team can beat any team on their day.
“We’re not going to take any team lightly. We’ve still got a lot of improvement and hopefully we can stay ahead of the pack.”
The Jets next match is against Eltham, which is coming off a 40-point loss to Bulleen Boomers.
“They’re always dangerous. They will want a better performance than they had this week,” Kereama said.
It’s not just the senior Jets’ women who have been on fire this season, the Jets’ youth league girls are second on the youth league women’s division 2 ladder with just one loss for the season.
They had a big win on Sunday against Western Port Steelers, 62-29.
