Round 16 is in the books, with just the one Storm victory for the weekend.
Championship Men
Bellarine 75 lost to Western Port 83
(Max Kos 20, Nathan Gronbeck 19)
Both sides found the going tough early, as shots just weren’t dropping for either side early doors.
A Max Kos trey with 3 minutes remaining in the opening term, broke a 4 minute run, where neither side could find the scoreboard.
From there to the end of the first term, the Steelers were able to steady and hold the lead at the half by 6 points.
The Storm worked hard in the second to keep pace with Western Port, with Max Kos prominent for the term with 10 points for the quarter, however, the Storm weren’t able to make any inroads into the Steelers’ lead, still trailing by 8 points at the half.
Facing a 12 point deficit into the last, the Storm, to their credit, fought the game out, outscoring the home side 23 to 19, with Nathan Gronbeck being the driver, with 11 points in the last term.
Division 1 Women
Bellarine 56 lost to Western Port 71
(Chantelle Hall 19 & 12, Olivia Virt 12)
With a win in this one, almost being enough to lock in top spot heading into the finals, a loss on Saturday night means the Storm still have a bit of work to do in the last round to earn the weeks rest in the opening weekend of the Finals series.
In a pretty even first term, the Storm held the edge, with a good spread of scorers contributing to their 4 point lead at the first break.
The second quarter saw the Storm start well and extend their lead early, before the Steelers got their game rolling and whilst the Storm were able to keep their noses in front for most of the term, the home side surged with 3 minutes to go and moved to a five point lead by the half.
Both sides’ scoring dried up at the opening of the third term, the Storm going 1 of 6 by half way through the quarter, however, the Steelers weren’t faring much better with 2 of 6 and while the shooting of both sides improved for the remainder of the quarter, by the end of it, the Storm still trailed, with their deficit sitting at 10 points with one to play.
Unfortunately, the Storm wasn’t able to make any inroads into the margin by the final buzzer, going down by 15 points in the end.
Youth League 2 Men
Bellarine 58 lost to Wallan 67
(Ezekiel Rickard 17, Mitch Smith 11 & 11)
Sadly, our Youth League Men couldn’t pick up a win in their final home game for the season, going down to Wallan by 9 points.
Wallan jumped the start and got out to an early lead before the Storm steadied and worked their way back into the contest through Vinnie Whelan, Ezekiel Rickard and Jack Davies.
Both sides went basket for basket for much of the second term until Wallan eased away to a 7 point advantage by the half, however, the Storm were still well and truly in the contest.
It was another very even term in the third quarter, with the Storm fighting back to within 2 points just short of three quarter time and looking in good shape to potentially come away with the points.
However, the last quarter didn’t go to plan as the Storm scoring dried up and baskets were hard to come by for most of the term, as the visitors steadied and came out on top by 9 points in the end.
Youth League Women
Bellarine 88 d Southern Peninsula 61
(Sophie Tattersall 25, Eliza Haugh, Ash Withers, Alicia Field 14)
Saturday night saw our Youth League Women have a great tune up ahead of the Finals beginning this weekend.
The highlight of the night was the breakout game of pocket rocket Sophie Tattersall having a night out with 25 points for the game going 10 of 14 for the night (71%) from the field including 7 of 12 from downtown.
One of the other pleasing aspects of the comfortable win was the spread of scoring, with Eliza Haugh, Ashlea Withers and Alicia Field all chipping in with 14 a piece for the match.
The Storm were dominant across the first three quarters, setting up an unassailable 37 point lead with one to play.
Once again, our Youth League Women have had an outstanding regular season and for the second successive season, find themselves in position A1 heading into the post-season, on top of the ladder.
With a top 5 in Youth League Women, Bellarine have earned the week off in the opening round of the Finals have earned a home final in the second week of the finals.
THIS WEEKEND
Saturday 22nd July 2023
YL2 Men
Bellarine v Warrandyte @ Warrandyte Sports Complex 6:00pm
Championship Men
Bellarine v McKinnon @ Bellarine Secondary College 7:00pm
Sunday 23rd July 2023
Division 1 Women
Bellarine v Melbourne University @ Bellarine Secondary College 12:00pm
Championship Men
Bellarine v Melbourne University @ Bellarine Secondary College 2:00pm
YL2 Women – BYE