Barking Owls defeat Raiders to remain undefeated in the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade comp

An undermanned Barking Owls side outlasted a persistent Raiders under-18 development squad on Tuesday night to remain undefeated in the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade competition. Star players Keely Berry and Rebecca Benson were absent but the offensive duo of Brodie Dixon and Narelle Humphries took control to help Owls notch their eighth straight win in round nine. In a seesawing first half, Owls jumped out to a narrow four-point lead by half-time with Dixon and Humphries bobbing up with nine and six points, respectively, in the opening stages. Owls’ lead hovered around five points for most of the contest despite Raiders’ Kleo Proudfoot providing plenty of drive in their fifth loss of the season. There was a lull in scoring in the opening stages of the second period with Dixon finishing a tough lay-up in traffic to break the scoring drought five minutes into the half. After a flurry of baskets each way, Dixon once again took control on the offensive side, converting a tough three-point play to push the margin back out to six. Raiders’ Maddison Ausburn hit one of her two free throws before Mila Trichilo and Dakota Bremner’s shots fell short. Owls’ Shanaya Weeden hit one free throw attempt but the hot-handed Proudfoot found space at the other end to nail a tough shot in the paint. Dixon bobbed up for a field-goal on transition but the persistent young Raiders kept hammering away as Imojen Gill rattled in a clutch three from the top of the arc to trim the margin back to five. Owls’ Belle Palmer hit a free throw but missed her second attempt with Dixon grabbing the rebound and firing a pass to Humphries under the basket for an easy field-goal. Bremner charged through the Owls defence at the other end, pulling down her own rebound from a missed attempt and sinking the second-chance bucket to keep her side within reach. With under two minutes left to play, Shanaya Weeden’s attempt for a game-clinching three fell short but Humphries once again took advantage of her size to box out her defender under the rim before icing the game with an easy layup. Humphries scored again on a fast break and despite Ausburn nailing the final score of the game at the other end the Raiders went down 35-42. Dixon once again led the way for Owls with a game-high 18 points (seven field-goals) while Humphries chipped in with 12. Proudfoot was crucial for the Raiders in a losing affair with 12 points. Meanwhile, Griffins consolidated second place with a 36-28 triumph over Sonics Blue. Amy Dominiak (14 points) led the way for Sonics in their 46-36 win over the winless Railways Tigers.