NBL1 South: Casey get off to the perfect start as Monique Conti stars

One of the NBL1 South’s newest teams, Casey, is off to the perfect start after a big opening round which included stellar displays from a crosscode star and it’s only going to get better.

Casey has every reason to be excited after just one round of its first NBL1 South season.

The Cavaliers got off to the perfect start last weekend as the women’s team started 2-0 while the men split their opening two games 1-1.

Both sides won the home opener against the Melbourne Tigers on Friday night.

Crosscode sporting star Monique Conti (20 and 19 points) and Taylah Giliam (16 and 22) led the way as the Cavaliers women romped to a 50-point win over the Tigers before capping it off with a hard fought win against the Dandenong Rangers.

Despite admitting there were a few nerves pre-game and in the opening minutes, women’s coach Alex Palazzolo said he was pleased with how his team handled themselves on a historic weekend for the club.

Monique Conti is one of the team's star recruits this season. Photo: In2Action Photography.

“I thought we were very good across both games,” he said.

“We were very professional with the way we handled ourselves. Going into the game against Dandenong on Saturday, we knew they would be fired up after a loss in their opening game.

“They also had Gemma Potter, who is a WNBL player, in their side but we didn’t let that get in our way.

“The starting five from Friday’s game had only trained twice together so there was a lot of adapting to one another throughout the game as well.”

Taylah Giliam enjoyed a strong opening round. Photo: In2Action Photography.

While he was able to send a strong side onto the court, Palazzolo’s options are only going to continue growing in the coming weeks.

Import Sarah Boote is still a “couple of weeks” from arriving in Australia while Hailey Merrigan will return to the line-up after representing Victoria at the under 20 national championships.

Guard Rebekka Mawdsley is also nearing a return from a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Abby Bishop is still in the rehab phase of her recovery.

“Player availability has been one of our biggest challenges so far,” Palazzolo said.

“Shereesha Richards, who has previously been an important for the club, is helping out as well. We’re going to keep persevering with what we’ve got for the time being.

“We’ve got a platform to build off now and we will continue adding some of the structures we want in place as we get more players back.”

The Cavaliers men’s and women’s sides will both take on Kilsyth on Saturday night.