For the Ringwood Lady Hawks the 2007 season started the way the 2006 season finished. Facing the Altona Gators at home in front of a small but parochial crowd the Lady Hawks kicked off their 2007 campaign with a gutsy 12 point victory.

Taking the reigns again for the 2007 season is Head Coach Tim Mottin and joining him again is assistant Joe Egan. Tim and Joe are joined on the sidelines by Tony Kitchin who led the Lady Hawks to the 1995 Terrill Conference championship and the Division 2 Coach of the Year in 2006, Simon Hickey. On court the team is led once again by their Captain Allison Dunkley-Smith while a range of new faces from the junior program have earned a spot in the squad.

Saturday’s game saw the ladies unveil their new white uniform and they did it proud in the first quarter as they jumped the visitors. Some nice outside shooting by new recruit Sacha Poly and Allison Dunkley-Smith, coupled with some solid work on the glass by Tolyna Baan and Natalie Seach saw the Hawks take a 20-11 lead at the first break.

Altona made some adjustments to their defence and this proved effective as the Hawks found scoring more difficult whilst the Gators made in roads into the lead. Poor shot selection and equally poor ball control by the Hawks saw the lead back to just 6 points at the long break as Altona’s Sarah Mc Kay and Megan Jones started to do some damage.

A half time rev up by Coach Mottin was expected to fire the girls up but they seemed to come out flat and once again struggled to finds any rhythm to their offence. Hitting just 9 of 33 from behind the arc. the Hawks failed to penetrate the Gators zone defence. Poor passing and shot selection were proving costly as the Gators drew level and looked a very real chance to steal the away win.

Holding onto a 2 point lead at the last change, the Hawks upped the pressure on the young Gators outfit and this pressure started to reap some rewards. A better shooting percentage also helped as Ringwood junior Katie Shanahan made some timely basket late in the game to help the Lady Hawks go on to record a 74-62 victory. Top scores for the Hawks were Katie Shanahan with 15 points, Regan Gardiner (14pts, 5rebs) and Sacha Poly (12pts) whilst Tolyna Baan worked tirelessly on the boards as she amassed 13 rebounds.

The Lady Hawks next assignment is a home game against the much improved Melton Thoroughbreds on Saturday night. Tip off is at 6.15pm.

Article courtesy of Ringwood Basketball Association