Well, what a weekend of basketball it was for the Storm in Big V Round 3!
Championship Men
Saturday
Bellarine 81 lost to Western Port 88
(Josh Chery 13, Marko Vekic 13)
Sunday
Bellarine 67 lost to Hume City 94
(Josh Chery 14, Max Kos 11)
It was a tough weekend at the coal face for our Championship Men with a big home double header.
On Saturday night, it was another even contest for the majority of a very entertaining game, with both sides well in the hunt. The Storm made the early running, to set up an early 9 point buffer midway through the first, before the Steelers steadied and got themselves back on track to trail by only 4 points at the first break.
An early 3 pointer by Western Port saw them hit the front opening stages of the second, extending that to 9 points late in the second, from which point the Storm put on a 16 to 2 run to half time and leading by 7 points at the main break.
The second half was another even one, with the visitors inching their way to the front by the final buzzer to score a 7 point win.
On Sunday, the Storm faced the might of top of the table Hume City and came away with an understanding of what it’s like at the top of the table.
After another even start and a 4 point differential in favour of the Bronco’s at the end of the first term, the game took a disappointing turn as the Bronco’s flexed their muscle in the second term to almost wipe us out of the contest by half time, going to the sheds with a 27 point advantage.
Things didn’t get much better for the Storm in the second half, as scoring dried up in the face of a Bronco’s team who were dominating both ends of the court, maintaining their 27 point advantage to the finish line.
Division 1 Women
Saturday
Bellarine 93 defeated Warrandyte 34
(Chantelle Hall 20, Bh’rea Griffin 18)
Sunday
Bellarine 83 defeated Warrnambool 68
(Georgia Varley 27, Olivia Virt 22)
What a super weekend for our Division 1 Women as two wins over the weekend saw them go to a 4-0 start to a season, their equal best start to a season since our debut season in 2019.
In game 1 on Saturday night, the Storm cruised to a massive 59 point win against Warrnadyte, led by a superb performance by Chantelle Hall who dominated both ends of the court.
Hall dropped 20 points for the night and was proving a big headache for the Venom with her height and presence in the key.
This game was pretty much done by the half as the Storm crushed the Venom all over the court to set up a big 32 point lead by half time.
Bh’rea Griffin continued to demonstrate her value to the team with 18 for the night along with Olivia Virt, Georgia Varley and Lucy Howard all contributing double figure scoring returns.
That led to Sunday and the much anticipated rematch against Warrnambool on Sunday afternoon, after our defeat of the Mermaids in extra time in Round 1.
Sunday was a masterclass from Georgia Varley as she spearheaded a great performance from the Storm to cruise to a comfortable win by 15 points to make it 4 wins to begin the 2023 Season.
It wasn’t just Varley though, as Olivia Virt was another important key in the victory, with 22 points and 15 boards, 11 at the defensive end of the court. Lucy Howard also continued her nice form with another double figure return (10 points) from the weekends two games.
Youth League 2 Women
Bellarine 62 defeated Albury/Wodonga 50
(Piper Copeland 17, Ash Withers 15 points 12 rebounds)
A successful trip up the Hume Highway for our Youth League Women as they also keep their unbeaten start to the season going, coming away with a 12 point win against Albury/Wodonga on Saturday night.
The Storm didn’t have things all their own way though, as the Bandits eked out a 1 point lead at the first break, before the Storm steadied in the second quarter to take the lead by 6 points at the main break.
That lead was extended to double figures by the end of the third stanza but was cut back by the Bandits at the start of the last, as they pushed their case for a win, before the Storm stamped out the uprising and went to 3-0 for the season.
Piper Copeland led the way for the Storm with 17 points, whilst Ash Withers compiled a 15 point 12 rebound game to lead the way for their side.
Youth League 2 Men
Saturday
Bellarine 61 lost to Albury Wodonga 105
(Ezekiel Rickard 17, Ben Walters 10)
Sunday
Bellarine 72 defeated Wangaratta North East 52
(Sam Maher 17, Vinnie Whelan 12)
Saturday night wasn’t an ideal start to a weekend road double for our Youth League Men as they fell to Albury Wodonga by 44 points.
It would be pretty fair to say that the Bandits had a night where the shooting gods were on their side as they went at 61% from the field for the game, compared to the Storm’s 46% which under normal circumstances, would be quite a respectable clip.
Ezekiel Rickard (17 points) and Ben Walters (10 points) fought hard to keep the Storm in the contest, however, it just wasn’t enough to curb an opponent having an ‘on’ night.
The good news was that our boys bounced back straight away on Sunday at Wangaratta to pick up a 20 point win against the Bushrangers.
Apart from a patch in the second quarter, where the Bushrangers held sway, the other 3 terms belonged to the Storm as they controlled the contest to the line.
Sam Maher was the star for the Storm with his 17 points, getting good support from Vin die Whelan, who continues his nice form to start the season, with 12 points.
A 3-1 record at the Easter break, sees the Storm well placed early on in the season, to build on that start.
THIS WEEKEND
BYE – EASTER WEEKEND
ROUND 4
Saturday 15th April 2023
Youth League 2 Women
Bellarine v Western Port @ Bellarine Secondary College 5:30pm
Youth League 2 Men
Bellarine v Western Port @ Bellarine Secondary College 7:30pm
Sunday 16th April 2023
Division 1 Women
Bellarine v Craigieburn @ Craigieburn Sports Stadium 2:00pm
Championship Men
Bellarine v McKinnon @ Glen Eira Sports & Aquatic Centre 2:00pm