Mammoth task for Raiders

THE Knox Ford Raiders Big V Youth League Women will face a tough task this weekend when they attempt to beat the Nunawading Spectres twice in less than 24 hours.
The Raiders went down by 16 points in game one of their best-of-three Grand Final series on Saturday night at Knox Converse Stadium.
They will now have to win at Nunawading on Saturday night in game two to keep their chances alive of winning the title in a game three the following day.
The first quarter saw the Spectres jump out to an early lead, however, it was the ladies from Knox who pegged the score back in their favour and took the momentum going into the first break leading by two.
Turnovers and poor shooting in the second term didn’t help Knox’s quest to win a pivotal game one and neither did Nunawading’s star player Hayley Munro.
Munro was simply unstoppable on Saturday night delivering 28 points to go with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in an MVP type performance. Behind the play of Munro, the Spectres had jumped out to a 10-point lead at half time.
Raider duo Jess Eason (15 points, 6 rebounds) and Alana Wallis (12 points) fought hard for the home team to keep their chances of a victory alive and after a hard-nosed third quarter of basketball, the half-time lead had remained the same with both teams netting just 14 points in the third.
In the final 10 minutes of action, the Raiders threw everything at their cross-town rival but couldn’t get within striking distance of the Spectres who showed their class through to the final buzzer.
The scoreboard read 76-60 to the championship favourites, the Spectres, who will now look to close out the series on Saturday night in game two.
If the Raiders are to have any hope of keeping their championship aspirations alive, they will have to find a way to slow Munro down and increase their shooting percentage, which was only 35.2 per cent in game one.
Game two is this Saturday night at Nunawading Basketball Stadium 8.15pm and game three (if required) will by played on Sunday at 1.45pm, again at Nunawading.