Wildcats Split an Ugly Round The Parramatta Wildcats were on the road on the weekend, recording one win and one loss against the Northern Suburbs Bears on Saturday night at the Northern Suburbs Indoor Sports Centre (NSISC), Crows Nest in round four of the Waratah Australian Basketball League (WABL) competition. The Wildcats women trailed the highly ranked Bears throughout a very dour contest, shooting a miserable percentage from the floor and failing to keep the Bears ‘tall timber’ off the boards in the 62-47 loss. Bears’ towering centre Tanya Smith was virtually unstoppable in the paint, grabbing fourteen offensive rebounds to punish the Wildcats on the boards. Amanda Ford and Victoria Saad were again the Wildcats leading scorers this week, whilst new signing Tara Saul had an inauspicious night, overwhelmed and outplayed on her first outing for the Wildcats by the towering Smith. The Wildcats men made heavy work of their 97-89 win over the Bears men, despite leading for the entire game. This was an ugly, often-bruising contest, with the Bears obviously playing to a pre-conceived strategy to knock the highly-fancied Wildcats out of their rhythm and perhaps grab an unexpected win. Former Sydney Spirit NBL swing-man Graeme Dann kept the Wildcats in front through the first three quarters but he was a heavily-marked man as the Bears made scoring difficult, especially in the paint. The home team appeared capable of gaining the lead on numerous occasions and with six players in double figures, could perhaps have won on any other night of the year. The Wildcats host the Sydney Comets at the Auburn Basketball Stadium, Church Street Lidcombe on Saturday night, with the women’s game tipping off at 4pm and the men’s game at 6pm. WOMEN: Northern Suburbs Bears 62 (Tanya Smith 16 points, 19 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocked shots) def Parramatta Wildcats 47 (Amanda Ford 16 points, 11 boards; Victoria Saad 14 points, Brianna Gibbs-Manuatu 9) MEN: Parramatta Wildcats 97 (Graeme Dann 34 points, 11 boards; Anto Lalic 17 points, 13 boards; Tim Labka 16 points, Goran Veg 16) def Northern Suburbs Bears 89 Action photos from the NBL, WNBL, WABL, SL, WNWBL and NWBL can be viewed at www.photoexcellence.com.au