Southern Tigers captain is ready for Round 2

By Dan Woods for NBL1.com.au 

Confidence is a fickle thing in sport, and it’s exactly what Southern Tigers captain Mollie McKendrick feels her side was missing in its opening-round clash of the NBL1 Central season.

The Tigers hosted Forestville in their first game of the season, and fell by six points in what turned out to be a defensive slugfest at Morphett Vale Basketball Stadium.

With the scores tied at just 21 apiece at halftime, the Eagles came out and put on a third-quarter clinic to restrict the Tigers to just nine points in the third quarter, and although McKendrick’s side rebounded to get themselves back into the game in the final term, it was game over.

“It was a tough game,” McKendrick said on The Hoopsters.

 “It was a bit of a weird one and a lot of ups and downs as we went along. I think we were down by about 14-16 at one point heading towards the end of the game. For us, it was one of those games you look back on and think ‘wow, how were we even where we were’.

“I think we reflected back on the tape that some people had opportunities they didn’t take in the sense of just having the confidence to go out and play like they had been, we had a couple of girls play more minutes than they probably ever have in NBL1, and they’ve got the skill and the talent to be able to do it but for them it’s just stepping up to that next level.

“I think there was a real lack of confidence but as a team we could see our execution at times was really poor.”

As stingy as the defence from both sides was for large parts of the game McKendrick found her scoring touch with relative ease, and ended the game with 26 points on over 45 per cent shooting, 12 rebounds and six assists.

She alone accounted for almost half of her entire team’s points, and the entire bench combined for just one point across the entirety of the game. Despite her own strong numbers, she still isn’t impressed with her own performance.

“Even though I felt like I was competitive, I didn’t think I played my game,” McKendrick reflected.

“I thought my decision-making was pretty poor and probably on the defensive end wasn’t as influential as what I wanted to be.

“I was a bit frustrated in my personal game and as a team we were frustrated watching back the tape and looking at the opportunities we had and how much better we could have played.”

One player to keep an eye on will be Morgan Yaeger, coming off a championship with the Townville Fire in the WNBL. She scored over 17 points per game last season and the team was unlucky to not make the NBL1 Central Finals last season.

Next up for the Tigers is an away from home clash against the Eastern Mavericks, who suffered a 23-point loss to South Adelaide in their first game of the season.

McKendrick believes if her side can replicate its defensive performance against the Eagles from Round 1, but also add some extra sting on the offensive end, they’ll hold themselves in good stead for victory.

“Any time you look at a score at half time and it’s 21 all you’re obviously doing your job down one end of the floor but you’re not being successful at the other,” she said.

“Forestville put us under pressure but a lot of it was unforced errors and unforced turnovers.

“We had a lot of shots that are good shots for us that we couldn’t knock down, but we started making those shots [in the fourth quarter], and I anticipate and expect we’ll keep making them.

“It was just a confidence boost and we got rolling.

“We can’t get into positions where we are tied at 21-all at halftime. We’ve got to keep that defensive intensity but also be confident at the offensive end.”

McKendrick and the Tigers face the Eastern Mavericks on Saturday, April 1 at 6:30pm ACDT via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App here.