The NBL1 East season is over, with the Crusaders men’s and women’s teams missing out on post-season basketball, but for the Crusaders Waratah Youth League teams the regular season is yet to end and playoff basketball is just about guaranteed at this point.
The Youth Men were able to defend homecourt on Saturday, July 22, against bitter rivals Penrith, who knocked the Crusaders out of the semifinals just last year.
The game got off to an unfavorable start for the Crusaders, who allowed 11 points to go unanswered before a timeout was called.
With captain and league leading scorer Alex Bailey held scoreless in the first quarter, the Crusaders had to find another way to beat the 2-3 zone defense the Panthers were playing.
Unforced errors and offensive rebounds plagued the Crusaders during the first three quarters but they rallied later in the game.
“We came in complacent because we know we’re the better team, we’ve been the better team all year and in the second half we showed them exactly that,” Bailey said.
“We regained our focus and upped our energy on both ends resulting in less offensive rebounds for them.
“We beat their zone through our team effort and chemistry and that allowed me to become much more involved in the second half on offence.”
Bailey finished the game with 20 points total, 17 of those coming in the second half, resulting in a 102-81 victory for the home crowd.
Nothing changes for the Youth Men in terms of their seeding as they are still chasing that first-place finish with two games left to play in the regular season.
The Youth women had quite a battle of their own in front of the home fans when they took on the fifth placed Sydney Comets, who are hot on their heels at the top of the tightly grouped ladder.
The match started off tit-for-tat with a few lead changes before the second quarter where the Comets started to pull away, leading by 11 points at the half.
While co-captains Sammi McCubbin and Bronte Moore combined for 32 points to lead the scoring for the Crusaders, it was the defensive juggernaut Cushla Alpen who provided a much-needed spark off the bench.
Alpen began the second half playing a full court press and it wasn’t long before she started to rack up blocks upon steals, pulling down an impressive 11 rebounds and giving the Crusaders the lead going into the fourth quarter.
Alpen’s energy remained the same on the defensive end and her hustle earned her several trips to the line where she cashed in and added a total of 13 points in the end to go along with remarkable stat-line.
The Crusaders beat back the Comets in a tight 74-69 victory, hanging on firmly in the race to the first-place finish and the minor premiership.
Both Youth teams will play this Saturday, July 29, at Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium, Terrigal.
The action will start at 3pm with the women taking on the Maitland Mustangs followed by a 5.30pm match where the men take on the Hornsby-Kuringai Spiders to close out the night.
Stefan Kataric