Round 4 of Big V turned out to be a tough weekend at the office for most of our teams over the weekend, with only our Youth League Women’s team tasting success in both their outings.
Championship Men
Bellarine 64 lost to McKinnon 106
(Max Kos 14)
A slow beginning by our Championship Men saw them chasing McKinnon for most of the afternoon.
Both sides struggled to get their shots to drop in the second term, allowing the Storm to tie for the term with 19 points each, but still trailing by 13 points at the main break.
Sadly, McKinnon put us to the sword in the third term, outscoring the Storm 35 to 14 to put the game out of reach for us. Max Kos was trying hard to keep the Storm in the contest scoring 10 of our 14 points for the third term.
Division 1 Women
Bellarine 59 lost to Craigieburn 63
(Chantelle Hall, Olivia Virt 17)
Our Division 1 Women fell agonisingly short of creating Club history on Sunday, falling just 4 points short of Craigieburn on the road.
The Eagles jumped the Storm in there first quarter, setting up a 5 point lead by the first break and then extending that to 13 points at the main break, with Courtney Strait leading the Craigieburn charge.
Craigieburn had clearly done their homework on the Storm as they worked hard to keep Georgia Varley and Bh’rea Griffin in check, however, that did create opportunities for Chantelle Hall and Olivia Virt to continue their good recent form and keep the Storm in the contest.
The Storm worked hard in the third term to keep the margin within reach with one to go and into the last with a glimmer of hope of still coming away with the win.
Olivia Virt was leading the way in the last, as she put together an 11 point term. However, the difference in the end was the form of Strait for the Eagles as she finished the game with 35 points at 81%.
Youth League 2 Women
Saturday
Bellarine 56 defeated Western Port 49
(Emily Benson 11)
Sunday
Bellarine 77 defeated Sherbrooke 61
(Alicia Field 18 points/11 rebounds, Eliza Haugh & Sophie Tattersall 14)
Our Youth league Women are in familiar territory again, being our only undefeated team, with a successful double win weekend.
On Saturday night at Storm HQ, things were looking a bit shaky in the first term as Western Port grabbed the early advantage against a slow starting Storm, taking an 11 point buffer into quarter time.
However, after Coach David Smith’s quarter time address, the ladies responded in the second term, to play themselves back to trail by just 3 points at the main break.
The third term was more of an arm wrestle, before Bellarine found the lead via an Eliza Haugh 3 pointer with one and a half to go in the term.and extending the lead to 6 points with one term to play.
Whilst Western Port hung with the Storm for the last quarter, Bellarine were able to hold on for a seven point win.
Unlike Saturday night, Bellarine jumped out of the blocks with a 20 to 7 opening term to establish a strong advantage early.
The middle portion of the contest was really even with the home side outscoring the Storm by 4 points over the second and third terms before the Storm steadied in the last and pushed on to take the win by 16 points.
Alicia Field had a great day at the office with 18 points and 11 boards, geeing good support from Eliza Haugh and Sophie Tattersall with 14 a piece and Ash Withers with 10 points and 12 off the glass.
Youth League 2 Men
Bellarine 66 lost to Western Port 78
(Vinnie Whelan 16)
There was a lot to like, despite the loss of our Youth League Men in their first home game for the season on Saturday night.
The Storm were in the contest for the majority of the night, against one of the top sides from the Watson Conference in Western Port.
Vinnie Whelan was instrumental early for the Storm, with 8 points in the opening quarter to lead the way to a 2 point lead at the first break.
For a majority of the middle portion of the game, both sides were hard at work trying to gain a break in a gritty battle for control, with only 4 points separating the Storm from the lead with one to play.
A Ben Walters tip in halfway through the last term got the margin to 3 points and the momentum appeared to be swinging the way of the home side before the visitors went on an 8 to zip run and stretched the lead out to 11 points and out of reach of the Storm.
THIS WEEKEND
ROUND 5
Saturday 22nd April 2023
Championship Men
Bellarine v Sunbury @ Boardman Stadium 8:00pm
Youth League 2 Men
Bellarine v Sunbury @ Boardman Stadium 6:00pm
Youth League 2 Women
Bellarine v Mornington @ Mornington Basketball Stadium 6:00pm
Division 1 Women
BYE