Bendigo Braves clean sweep Sabres, Cavaliers during NBL1 double-header weekend

With a double-header on the cards, they sealed a four-match clean sweep against the Sandringham Sabres and Casey Cavaliers.

Braves Women

The Braves women tipped-off the weekend on Saturday night against the Sabres with a 19-point win, final result 90-71.

Braves trailed the Sabres by three points at the end of the first quarter but then turned the tables in the second to take a seven-point lead into the main break.

They remained ahead of the Sabres during the third quarter and then broke away in the fourth.

Sport news:

Megan McKay notched a double-double with 32 points and 14 rebounds, followed by Tess Madgen on 20 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds.

One of the Braves biggest challenges was taking care of the Sabres' Funda Nakkasoglu who shot 22 points and took two boards, in addition to Brittany Smart on 18 points and nine rebounds.

Once back on court on Sunday for a clash with the Cavaliers, the Braves showed no sign of tiredness as they reached triple digits, final result 100-69.

Madgen earned MVP, in what was her last game for the Braves for a few weeks as she heads to NYC to play with the Opals, with 32 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.

Braves women's coach Mark Alabakov said his squad did a "terrific job" against a tough team in the Cavaliers.

"The strength of our team is when we play together," he said,

"We created really good shots tonight, and even when they weren't dropping, what we produced was of a high standard and exactly what we wanted to create."

Braves Men

From the outset on Saturday the Braves men started building a strong first-half lead over the Sabres which they maintained for the rest of the game.

By the end of the second quarter the Braves were 13 points ahead (48-35).

The match's momentum remained much the same in the second half which allowed the Braves to see out the match by 14 points, final result 81-67.

The men secured the upper-hand over the Sabres in the rebounding department taking 46 during the match, 25 of which came from Sidy Mohamed Djitte - in comparison to the Sabres' 33.

The Braves also excelled by shooting 50.72 per cent from the floor to the Sabres' 34.92.

Luke Rosendale was best at the basket with 21 points, one rebound and two steals, followed by Jake Lloyd with 16 points and three boards.

On Sunday the men continued right where they left off from the previous night and contained the Cavaliers in a seven-point win, final result 85-78.

Kuany Kuany scored 30 points, six assists and took five rebounds.

Rosendale was next best with 18 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Braves have another double-header in round 13, an on-the-road clash with the Nunawading Spectres on Saturday followed by a home-court match with the Hobart Chargers on Sunday.

More sport:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: