Just the one Storm team in action on the weekend, with our Division 1 Women heading down to Warrnambool for their chance to grab a Grand Final spot on the line.
Division 1 Women
Bellarine 59 lost to Warrnambool 63
(Georgia Varley 13, Olivia Virt 10)
On paper this looked like a cracking contest, with both sides having good wins over the other throughout the season and in the end, it didn’t disappoint, however, the final result wasn’t what we were hoping form.
The Storm burst out of the blocks to take the early sting out of the home crowd at The Arc, with Olivia Virt kick starting a 9-0 run to start the game, bagging the Storm’s opening 5 points of the contest and deny the home side scoring opportunities to hold off the Mermaids to lead by 9 points at the first break.
Into the second and both sides turned the screws on each other’s offensive ends as the contest tightened up and scoring became harder. The Mermaids did manage to get within 3 points of the Storm with just under four to go, before we steadied through two important threes to 50th gamer Jaimee Crombie and Bh’rea Griffin and were able to maintain that 9 point buffer at the main break.
Despite some of Warrnambool’s key play makers starting to work their way into the game, the Storm were able to hold the Mermaids at bay for the third term, managing to still hold the lead at the final break, with one foot into the Grand Final.
However, as you’d expect from a quality side like Warrnambool, in front of their noisy home crowd, thy hit the ‘go’ button and went on a 7-0 run to start the final term to level the scores at 45 a piece, less than three minutes into the quarter.
After Coach Tim Sanderson called a time out, the next couple of minutes of the game saw the pressure ramp right up as scoring dry up for both sides, until the Mermaids pushed again, this time finding the lead with just on four minutes left in the game.
Dangerous Mermaid Amy Wormald then begun to lead the charge for Warrnambool offensively, making seven points in very quick time and have her side in the box seat heading to the line.
The Storm still had a few arrows of their own to throw in the remaining minutes, with Jaimee Crombie again finding the basket from outside the arc, as did Georgia Varley, to narrow the game to just one point with seconds to spare.
Sadly for the Storm, Louise Brown went to the line, converting her first, however missed the second, only to see Amy Wormald grab the offensive board and get it to Brown who connected with her jump shot to give the Mermaids the win and the first spot in this year’s Division 1 Women Grand Final.
THIS WEEK
Saturday 12th August 2023
Division 1 Women Preliminary Final
Bellarine v Western Port @ Bellarine Secondary College 5:00pm
Youth League Women 2 Grand Final
Bellarine v Whittlesea @ Bellarine Secondary College 7:00pm