TAMWORTH Thunderbolt men’s and women’s sides had tough losses on the road in Gosford and Newcastle on Saturday night.
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The Thunderbolt women lost 73-62 to the Newcastle Hunters in Newcastle while the men lost 68-62 to the Central Coast Crusaders on the Central Coast.
While the men are still near the top of their Waratah State League Pool B, the women were knocked out of sixth by Saturday night’s loss and now must beat Coffs Harbour Suns this Saturday night (home) and the following Saturday (away) to make the playoffs.
“It was a disappointing loss,” Thunderbolt women’s coach Chris Tudman said.
“The girls played so well. They led at every change too – 20-14 after the first quarter, 33-30 at half time and 51-49 at three-quarter time.
“It was just age and experience that got them in the end.
“We also lost our best defender, Kirsten Allgayer, in the last quarter when she fouled out.”
Emily Bailey (25), Tshinta Knox (15) and Lisa Harshman (11) topscored for the Thunderbolts while Dhalara Knox, Tshinta Knox, Chantelle Lee and Kirsten Allgayer were all outstanding.
“The girls played with great flow and it was the best defensive effort from them all year,” Tudman said.
“Newcastle had two girls who stood over six feet two. Our biggest is five feet 10.”
The Thunderbolt men started their weekend with a six-point loss to the Central Coast Crusaders in Gosford on Saturday night and followed with a 97-82 win over Maitland Mustangs in Maitland yesterday.
It was a good effort from the Thunderbolts after the Mustangs jumped the visitors on their home court to lead by as many as 16 in the first quarter after Dwayne Noud shot five threes.
He finished with 34 for the game as the Mustangs led 33-22 at the first break.
The Thunderbolts worked back into it and led by four at halftime, inspired by Kyle Gupton (31pts) who was fed by some slick passing from Luke Krug, Max Chillingworth and skipper David Bourke.
The night before, the Thunderbolts encountered early foul trouble when two of their key big men, Ben Eather and Rhys Chillingworth, racked two and three fouls apiece in succession quickly in what was a 68-62 loss.
It changed the Thunderbolt shape considerably, coach John Ireland said.
“It was a disappointing game,” Ireland said.
“We got into foul trouble early, losing Rhys and Ben early when they racked up two and three fouls in the space of a few minutes.
“That limited our size a great deal.”
It told too, with the Crusaders leading by as much as 16 early in the final term before the Thunderbolts showed some courage to get back within three points.
However a few calls didn’t go the Thunderbolts’ way and they had to settle for a six-point loss where teenage guard Max Chillingworth was outstanding.
He topscored with 21 points while Gupton (14) and Justin Leehy (13) also hit double figures in a low-scoring game.
“Max Chill was outstanding,” Ireland said.
“Kyle got into a bit of groove in the fourth quarter but he struggled to get open looks all night and he did miss a few floaters.
“Defensively, we did a good job though but that foul trouble did hurt us down the stretch.”
The Thunderbolt men have another huge game this Saturday when they play the Newcastle Hunters in the Tamworth Sports Dome, part of a double header, with the women playing Coffs Harbour Suns from 4pm in the first game.