Young guard Laura Conway plays key role in Mountaineers victory

The Toowoomba Mountaineers breathed new life into their QSL campaign at the weekend with two key wins. Here’s our look at the biggest talking points – including which star sparked the team’s big revival.

Laura Conway for Toowoomba Mountaineers against Northside Wizards. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The Toowoomba Mountaineers women’s side changed the trajectory of their season on the weekend with a pair of massive wins in their double-header clashes with Southern Districts Spartans and South West Metro Pirates.

After suffering defeats in their last three games, the Mountaineers have returned to form and now boast a solid three and three record after the first month of action.

Check out the biggest talking points from the weekend’s action below.

Young gun a game-changer

While Mia Stower has often been the player Toowoomba has turned to this season to try and spark a momentum shift, in Sunday’s clash with the Pirates, it was young gun Laura Conway who put in a scintillating performance.

Conway’s energy on both ends of the floor helped dictate the contest and she led the scoring for the team with 16 points, while shooting six from eight from the field at a very efficient 75 per cent.

Laura Conway makes a break during a game. Picture: Tim Williams_Capture The Dog.

Turnovers hurt

While they have returned to winning form, there is still plenty of room for growth and the most evident area is ball security.

Across both games, Toowoomba turned the ball over an astonishing 45 times.

The Mountaineers were fortunate that in their clash at home on Sunday against South West Metro, the visitors turned the ball over just as much.

However, if the hosts could have been slightly more careful with their passes, they could have easily strolled to victory, instead of having to fight down to the wire.

Game-changing quarters

In both games, there was one quarter in the second half which helped catapult the Mountaineers to victory.

In the opening clash, it was the fourth quarter, where Toowoomba outscored the Spartans 27-17 to run home 76-66 victors.

In the second clash, the Mountaineers struggled to find any momentum in the first half and trailed 33-28 at the halftime break.

However, with a fire in their belly, the Mountaineers surged in the third quarter to storm out to a 55-45 lead at the final break.

Toowoomba almost doubled their first half performance in the third and completed a 23-point turnaround as they took a 12 point lead after trailing by as much as 11 points at one stage.