Sunbury Jets have bagged a crucial win in the fight for finals spots in Big V women’s state championship.
The fourth-placed Jets controlled the contest against fifth-placed Hume City Broncos.
The Jets opened up an early lead, extending it throughout the game.
The Broncos hit back at times, but the Jets steadied and easily ran out 73-54 winners.
Jets’ coach Kennedy Kereama said he would take that win any day of the week.
“If anyone had asked if we came here and beat Hume by 19 points, I would have definitely not expected that,” he said.
“I think this is the toughest place in the league to come and get a win.
“Hume is just a very competitive outfit and even until the final siren they were battling hard.
“They are a team that won’t go away and credit to them.”
It was a physical game from the outset, with the Jets adjusting first to the umpiring.
Kereama said they had entered the game expecting it to be a hard and gritty match.
While the Jets adapted better to the situation, there were a couple of other areas that set them apart from the Broncos – depth and three-point shots.
All 11 Jets players got minutes, including in the first half when the match was still on the line.
Kereama said that sort of overall effort was important for the development of the Jets’ squad.
“Not many teams in the league can bring a former Australian Opal [Elyce Penaluna] off their bench or a former Australian junior, WNBL player [Kerryn Harrington] off their bench,” he said.
“It won’t always be that way. The way we trained and the way we wanted to run our match-ups, it meant that Kerryn and Elyce both came off the bench.
“It’s great when your bench can come out and give what is needed … we got to play everyone tonight.
“It’s important to give lesser players the experience to play in a game like that.”
Penaluna top scored with 17 points, while Harrington, Josie Stockill and Orla O’Reilly hit double figures.
The Jets were deadly from down town, shooting at 45 per cent from beyond the three-point line.
In the first half, the Jets percentage from that range was above 60 per cent.
In contrast, the Broncos didn’t hit a three-pointer until late in the third quarter.
Kereama said the Jets did a good job of executing their offence, while also sticking to the plan at the other end of the court.
“To shoot 45 per cent from the three-point line for the game is really good,” he said. “I think we did a good job executing our offensive sets, finding the right mismatches.
“We had a game plan that would allow them to have a lot of three-point shots and we were going to contest everything in the paint.”
The Jets, who remain in fourth spot on the ladder, will this weekend face second-placed Waverley Flacons and seventh-placed Keilor Thunder.
The Jets’ men lost 107-61 to Western Port Steelers in division 1.
