In sport it’s said that the good ones stand up when you need them the most. That is exactly what Bellarine youngster Annie Poon did on Friday night. The Storm under 14 girls were engaged in a tough defensive fight with Eltham 2 that saw scoring throughout the night at a premium. Having trailed early in the first quarter the wildcats headed the Storm girls taking a 5 point lead into the final term. Bellarine reduced the lead and drew within two with the final possession of the game in hand. Enter Annie Poon! With ball in hand and on the attack Annie was able to draw a foul as the final buzzer went off, leaving her with 2 free throws after the siren to tie the game. In the pressure packed scenario Annie held her nerve and produced 2 clutch shots helping her excited team mates escape the game with a share of the points. The result helped Bellarine hold 5th place on the ladder and kept them within striking distance of those above them in an incredibly close competition.
The 14 girls was just the first of a number of tightly contested matchups of the night. In the following game on the same court the under 18 1 boys also shared the points with their opponents, this time in Waverley. Also at the Bellarine stadium the under 16 2 girls held off Eltham 32-30 in a scrappy encounter while the Storm under 14 boys 3 snuck home against their club mates the under 14 4’s by 5. On the road the under 12 1 girls pinched one by a point on Eltham’s home deck while the under 14 1 boys suffered just their second loss of the season also by the narrowest of margins at Craigieburn.
Team performance of the night, however, belonged to the under 12 1 boys. Coming in to a crucial home meeting with Corio Bay that would decide top spot on the table at the current point of the year, the Storm boys came out with a strong first half to obtain a 7 point lead heading into the main break. The cease in play didn’t harm the Storm team who were even better in the third dispatching any hope of a Corio Bay come back and placing themselves in the penthouse with 7 games remaining in the season.