Oliver Lees
Altona Gators coach Randy Shanklin is pleased to see his side get off to a good start in the Big V women’s division 1-2 competition.
Speaking before the weekend’s match, Shanklin praised his side for carrying the pre-season training and effort into the regular season.
The Gators won their first two games in round one comfortably over Blackburn (103-69) and Coburg (80-63).
It was a different story for the Gators last season who managed to win just three of their first 10 matches.
The Gators ultimately paid the price for their sloppy start as they finished just outside of finals contention in sixth place.
“We’ve struggled in the past couple of years to have continuity transitioning from pre-season into the regular season,” he said.
“I was really happy we brought the same kind of aggression.
“We’re gonna need it this year, a lot came from our starters last year and maybe a few others not doing enough scoring.
“In a lot of games defence was really good but we weren’t scoring.”
In regards to scoring spread, so far so good for the Gators.
The bench contributed 40 of the Gators 103 point in the win over Blackburn.
Aseka Ratnayake led the way in bench scoring with 22 points as well as four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Tyla Paraha was also handy in her return to the Gators after a stint in the United States college system, finishing with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Shanklin said he was particularly impressed with his starting centre Alysha Carden-David.
Carden-David had a tough match up against the Vikings import MaKenzie Miller and played a big part of creating a defensive pressure in the key.
She finished the match with a plus minus of +30, the best of any player for either team.
“She’s pretty much our physical lever when it comes to the end of the court,” he said.
“She took her [Miller] out of the game, she does a lot of the ground work around the basket and sets the tone.”
Every team in the Big V will be contending with a new structure this season given that both division 1 and 2 have been combined.
Under the new system, each team will play each other once as part of a larger competition.
Once those goals have been completed the top half and bottom half will be split based on those results.
Then each section will play each other within their section once more before progressing to finals.
Shanklin likened the structure to the NBA’s play-in tournament, which is a new in-season competition that includes a knock-out tournament.
“I like it. It’s something new,” he said.
“It gives us something different to play for and it makes games earlier in the season more important.”
The Gators continued their early season form with a win against the Wallan Panthers on Sunday.
The Gators jumped out of the blocks and were able to extent the lead at every break in the 74-50 win.
Paraha top scored with 16 points.
