Braves women show promising signs during pre-season win over Ballarat

Braves secured a dominant 25-point win over the Miners, but coach Nathan Batchelor said one of the main learning lessons for the night was for the club's newer players to get adjusted to different on-court systems.

"We took a large squad of 13 to the match which included a balance of NBL1, Youth League and under-18 players," Batchelor said.

"It was fun, but also tough to get the rotation under control.

"We had around six completely new players who are just learning our offensive structure so it was a challenge for them to wrap their head around it.

"Overall it was a great game and good to see everyone out on court moving in the right direction."

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Braves managed to give themselves a 10-point buffer at the main break before stretching the margin even further to 65-40 by the final buzzer.

Batchelor said once the NBL1 South season gets underway next month that the Miners would be a challenging squad - especially with the recent addition of Abbey Wehrung to the roster.

"The club has gone through a revamp with Rob (Baker) taking over as coach and with Abbey back at the club there's no doubt they will be a force to be reckoned with this season."

Batchelor was handed control of the team on Saturday by the club as NBL1 head coach Mark Alabakov was on the road as a WNBL commentator.

The pair have known each other for years and have history right back to the grassroots level back in the Melbourne-based Diamond Valley Basketball Association.

The pair frequently hold joint training sessions at Red Energy Arena that includes players from almost every level of the Braves.

"It's a massive part of why the Bendigo women's program has been so successful," Batchelor said.

"Whether it's our under-18, Youth League or NBL1 players - everything rolls over as we use similar structures.

"Often you might see 25 players on court at training but the reality is that they're all under the same Braves banner.

"All we want is to get them all on court to get experience and exposure to elite basketball."

Just recently the Braves continued on their build towards their April 1 NBL1 season-opener against Frankston at Red Energy Arena.

Related: Braves seal CBL Championship with hard-fought win over Mildura Heat

Returning is CBL champion Taylor Stibbe who has been a staple for the Braves NBL1 program since her debut in 2021.

Caitlin Richardson is also back on board for the season and also heads into the competition on the back of a CBL championship and also after taking out the North West grand final MVP award.

During last year's NBL1 competition she averaged 8.5 points, 2.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game.

Meanwhile, the Braves men were also on court on Saturday and went down fighting by 16 points to Ballarat.

"We were missing a lot of our front-line and playing against a team that was at full strength with both of their imports on court - overall I'm super pleased," men's coach Steve Black said.

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