Your Sandringham Sabres have shocked league and defeated the Bendigo Braves to end their NBL1 South winning streak on Saturday night.
The streak is over! The Sandringham Sabres have pulled off the stunning upset to hand the Bendigo Braves their first defeat since the 2022 Grand Final, winning 94-88.
The Braves were back home at Red Energy Arena on Saturday evening having now won 30 consecutive games in the NBL1 South since that Grand Final loss to the Ringwood Hawks of 2022. That saw Bendigo win the NBL1 South championship of 2023 and then go on to stay unbeaten at the National Finals too to claim that championship, and the Braves opened the 2024 season with another five wins coming into Saturday’s match up.
It was the first game of the season for the Braves without Perth Lynx WNBL star Amy Atwell too with the Sabres arriving on a three-game winning streak and up for the challenge. Bendigo were still leading 28-27 by the end of the first quarter and remained on top 53-49 at the half-time break.
The streak looked well and truly on track to extend to 31 in the NBL1 South and then to 34 if you including the National Finals when the Braves took further control in the third quarter with the lead getting out to as much as 19 points.
But Sandringham just wouldn’t be denied, and they delivered a remarkable fourth quarter.
The Sabres overran the Braves on their home floor with 32 points to 12 in the final term and Bendigo didn’t have the answers late as Sandringham held on for the six-point win to hand the Braves a first defeat since the 2022 Grand Final.
The win is all the more meritorious for Sandringham given it was in Bendigo as the Sabres made it four straight wins to improve to 4-2 on the season.
Funda Nakkasoglu came up huge in the win for Sandringham with 24 points, four rebounds and two assists with Isis Lopes contributing 18 points, six boards and four assists. Not only did Juna Umezawa have 17 points and 11 rebounds, but she showed nerves of steel late with clutch free-throws while Eilidh Simpson added 13 points, two assists and two steals, and Britt Smart 10 points and three rebounds.
YEAH THE GIRLS!
