Big V was back in full force on the weekend and the opening round turned out to be a very successful one for our Storm teams.
Championship Men
Bellarine 61 lost to Blackburn 66
(Lewie Varley 15 points/10 rebounds, Marko Vekic 12 points/10 rebounds)
It was a bruising welcome to Championship Men in their first outing on Saturday night against Blackburn at Storm HQ.
Bellarine was out of the blocks early and took it right up to the visitors, establishing an early break in the first term, before the Vikings started to exert their presence on the contest to take a 12 point lead into the main break.
The second half turned out to be just as physical, as the Vikings would extend their margin, only to have the Storm peg them back.
A Marko Vekic lay up with one and a half minutes left in the final term, saw the Storm edge within 3 points of Blackburn and with momentum heading their way towards the line, before two costly Storm turnovers in the dying stages sealed the outcome.
Division 1 Women
Bellarine 77 defeated Warrnambool 66 (OT)
(Georgia Varley 23 points, Jaimee Crombie 17 points)
Our Division 1 Women burst into the 2023 season, with an overtime win against last year’s Championship winners Warrnambool at Warrnambool on Saturday night.
After an even first term, the Mermaids pushed ahead in the second term to establish a five point buffer into half time.
Over the next two quarters, the Storm whittled away the home sides advantage and then with just seconds on the clock, an Olivia Virt steal and pass to Alivia Osborne resulted in a Bellarine score to tie the game at 65 each on the buzzer of full time.
The Storm then steamrolled the Mermaids in extra time, outscoring them 12 to 1 to run out 11 point winners to open their 2023 campaign.
Youth League 2 Women
Bellarine 74 defeated Blackburn 44
(Summer Field 17 points/10 rebounds, Piper Copeland 17 points)
In their first outing for the season, it was a case of normal transmission has been resumed for our Youth League 2 Women as they ran our=t comfortable 33 point winners at home against Blackburn.
The Storm set the early pace in the opening term to establish an early 9 point advantage over their opponents at the first break, extending that to 11 points by the half.
A dominant third term set the win up for the Storm, with Ash Withers, Piper Copeland and Summer Field leading the way at both ends of the court.
Alicia Field was also prominent for the Storm, collecting an impressive 19 boards, 15 of those at the defensive end, along with 11 points to join Withers and Summer Field in collecting a double double for the match, snuffing out any chance of a Vikings victory.
Youth League 2 Men
Bellarine 80 defeated Southern Peninsula 64
(Ezekiel Rickard, Mitch Smith 15 points)
Our new look Youth League Men’s team kicked off their 2023 season with a very nice win against Southern Peninsula on the road on Saturday night.
Going into the opening game down a couple of soldiers, the Storm dug deep and controlled the contest for much of the night to run out 16 point victors.
Brushing off a second term comeback from the Sharks, the Storm had the home side’s bigs in foul trouble, forcing them into a smaller line up, which allowed Vinnie Whelan to dominate the boards with 17 for the night, teaming up with Ezekiel Rickard, Mitch Smith, Sam Maher and Keegan Johnson, who was impressive in his opening appearance in senior competition, to drive the Storm to a nice win.
THIS WEEKEND
ROUND 2
Saturday 25th March 2023
Championship Men
Bellarine v Camberwell 6:00pm @ Balwyn High School
Division 1 Women
Bellarine v Altona 7:30pm @ Bellarine Secondary College
Youth League 2 Men
Bellarine v Chelsea 5:00pm @ Patterson Lakes Stadium
Youth League 2 Women
Bellarine v Whittlesea 5:30pm @ Bellarine Secondary College