DESPITE the tough loss at the hands of the Southside Flyers on Wednesday night, Melbourne Boomers star Cayla George certainly left her mark on the contest during the 10-point loss.

The Boomers were overrun in the final quarter, as the Flyers put it all together in a convincing 10 minutes of play. However, George was one of the most impactful players on the court over the course of the entire match, doing a bit of everything as both sides struggled with inefficiency from the court.

At 33 years of age, George still has plenty to offer, and that was on full display as she got the most out of her experience on Wednesday. While she may not be as explosive or strong as she once was, her class has been a mainstay of her game and should continue to do so in the future.

Cayla George vs. Southside – eight points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, three steals

George started the game in strong fashion, finding a cutting Olivia Nelson-Ododa with a perfectly executed leading pass, which was finished with a lay-up. She tried to get involved in the scoring herself, but her three-pointer was a bit too heavy and bounced out, but still pulled down her first defensive rebound down the other end. She was involved in plenty of scoring chains, and registered her first points in the final couple of minutes of the opening term with a nice pull-up jumpshot, before almost backing it up in perfect fashion after ripping her first steal of the game, although her side could not capitalise.

George kicked off the second term as she did the first, finding a teammate for another assist. This time, it was Mia Murray who benefited, draining the three after George’s dish-out. She created another triple a few minutes later, combining well with star guard Tiffany Mitchell, who made no mistake from behind the arc. Despite continuing to set up her teammates with excellent passing, George’s own shooting was wayward, and proved to be the only flaw in her performance. Many of her shots were uncontested, but would not fall.

She finally nailed a bucket at the start of the third term after a scoreless second period, draining a trifecta to cut the deficit down to just four points. Her passing and rebounding continued to hurt the opposition, as she fought tooth and nail to keep her side in the contest as the Flyers tried to pull away, and created a couple of scores on the eve of three-quarter time to keep things interesting.

George and the Boomers tried to keep things going on the offensive end in the final term, but were well restricted by the Flyers in the final 10 minutes. She drained her second triple of the match to cut the margin back to 10 points, but the damage was done by that stage, as George exited the match shortly after.

While it was not her most effective performance, George still impacted the contest in a number of ways, flirting with a triple-double and keeping her side in the match for much of the contest.