The Otago Gold Rush has emerged from its WBC home double-header in Dunedin with a win and a loss.
After dropping Saturday's game against the Canterbury Wildcats 70-42, it bounced back with a 82-62 win over the Tauranga City Coasters yesterday.
Rebounding was Saturday's key issue.
The top-of-the-table Canterbury team came up with 52 boards, including 20 offensive ones, to Otago's 29.
That took the game away from a Gold Rush team that had fought hard to stay in touch early on.
It held the Wildcats to two points in the first seven minutes and took a 14-12 lead to the first break.
Canterbury took the lead with a 12-0 run midway through the second, although the Gold Rush remained in touch at 31-23 down.
The Gold Rush got that back to six midway through the third quarter, but the rebounding issues enabled the Wildcats to go into the final break up 49-39.
Canterbury then dominated the final quarter, holding the Gold Rush to three points as it blew the score out.
Nicole Ruske was the only Otago player to reach double-figures in scoring, with 13 points, while Francesca Edmondson had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Canterbury.
Yesterday the Gold Rush rebounded better, and put in a better overall performance, to get back on track against Tauranga.
Ruske again led the way with 17 points, while captain Natalie Smith had 16 while shooting 7-of-10 from the field.
It scored more efficiently, shooting 41% from the field, as opposed to 24%, and threatened both from the outside and at the hoop. Tauranga big Makayla Daysh made Otago work hard, proving a constant threat inside.
She had 20 points and 19 rebounds, but it was not enough to keep her team in the game.
The Gold Rush shot out to a 25-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and continued in the same manner throughout the rest of the game.
Gold Rush coach Todd Marshall said rebounding would be a main focus as the team looked ahead to the finals tournament beginning on July 6.
''We are a team that has to battle for everything.
''So my guards have go to rebound as much as my bigs, because my bigs aren't big bigs.
''It's just part of the way we normally play, but we couldn't do it [on Saturday].
''[Yesterday] was better, but we've still got to be really on our game for our team to get to the level it should be, but that was good today.''
He was happy with the weekend overall, feeling the team bounced back well to win the second game.
It had shown more composure, done a good job on Daysh and spread the floor well.
He felt the team had started all right against Canterbury, although it was worn down over the game, while rebounding had been costly.
