BIG V WRAP 31st March 2025
Our State Championship teams opened their 2025 campaigns on Saturday night as part of a massive weekend of games at Storm HQ.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP WOMEN
SATURDAY 29th MARCH
BELLARINE 54 d BULLEEN 48
(Olivia Virt, Chantelle Hall – 11)
After bowing out in the Preliminary Final last season, our State Championship Women made it a perfect start to their 2025 campaign, with a pair of wins from their two games.
On Saturday night, the Storm were able to hold off last years Grand Finalists Bulleen by 6 points at the Bellarine Sports Centre. In a tight tussle, both teams never took a backward step, however, it was the presence of tall Chantelle Hall at both ends of the court, along with the game of Olivia Virt in her 100th outing for the Storm, that gave the side the advantage at the end.
SUNDAY 30th MARCH
BELLARINE 84 d SUNBURY 62
(Courtney Strait 21, Bridgette Rettstatt 19 points & 14 rebounds)
Sunday’s contest against Sunbury looked to be a comfortable win for the Storm by three quarter time, as Bellarine pushed to an 18 point lead with one to play. However, Sunbury didn’t want to roll over and set about reducing the margin to just 9 points, before Captain Courtney Strait decided there was no chance of the visitors causing the upset, hitting two clutch three’s to guide her side to a 22 point win. Bridgette Rettstatt was also big for us with 19 points and 14 rebounds in a dominant performance across the game.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP MEN
SATURDAY 29th MARCH
BELLARINE 99 d CAMBERWELL 84
(Kerry Richardson 31, Malik McKinney 23)
In State Championship Men, the highlight was the first appearance of new recruit Kerry Richardson, who will become a very quick fan favourite, scoring 27 points to half time, including two alley oops to complement his shooting from outside the arc, pretty much having the contest wrapped up by that stage, as the Storm ran out 15 point winners.
Our other new recruits in Malik McKinney and Ben Robertson also showed they will be great inclusions for our side in 2025, with McKinney setting the tone first up from the point on Saturday night, showing an exciting turn of speed to leave opponents in his wake, finishing with 23 points along with seven assists.
SUNDAY 30th MARCH
BELLARINE 92 lost to SUNBURY 103
(Malik McKinney 21, Kerry Richardson 15)
Unfortunately, Saturday nights form didn’t carry over to Sunday as the Storm suffered from the three point rampage that Sunbury went on, dropping 16 of 35, primarily Josh Yorke-Frazer who finished with 38 points, almost shooting three’s at will throughout the contest to lead the visitors to an 11 point victory.
Again it was McKinney, with 21 points and 21 points and another 7 rebounds that led the way for the Storm. Ben Robertson certainly enjoyed coming up against his old side posting 13 points to go with his 11 boards to again be amongst the Storm’s best.
One stat that would have pleased Coach Luke Beauglehall was the Storm’s form from the free throw line, where they converted an impressive 12 of 13 attempts for the match, however, it wasn’t enough to stem the damage done by the Jet’s perimeter shooting
YOUTH LEAGUE THREE MEN
BELLARINE 72 lost to MACCABI 85
(Bailey Goodgame 16)
Saturday night saw our Youth League Three Men return to Earth after their win the previous week, as they suffered a 13 point road loss to Maccabi.
Things started well for the Storm as they held their own against the home side to trail by just two points at the first break, however, a second quarter lapse saw them fall off the pace midway through the term as Maccabi went on a 19 to 4 run to the half time break to have the Storm trailing by 13 points.
Despite a little fight back in the third team, the Storm weren’t able to work their way back into the game as Maccabi were able to hold off the Storm for the second half to maintain their half time lead of 13 points at full time.
Bailey Goodgame was best for the Storm with his 16 points, whilst Luka Gerber and Declan Coles both contributed 10 points for the contest.
YOUTH LEAGUE TWO WOMEN
BELLARINE 70 d MORNINGTON 64
(Lucy Howard 19, Tahli Smith 15)
This game was an entertaining one, as both sides went toe to toe for the first half, however, after half time, the Storm began to dominate and outrun the Mornington side, with a big third quarter off the back of some nice work by Lucy Howard, Piper Copeland and 50 gamer Sophie Tattersall to set up a seven point lead at three quarter time.
However, there was still plenty left in this game as the visitors narrowed the Storm lead to just one point with just under two minutes to play in the game, before a clutch three pointer from Piper Copeland and a nice scoring opportunity taken by Stella Sottile, allowed the Storm to pull away and take the win by six points in the end.
THIS WEEK
SATURDAY 5 APRIL 2025
State Championship Men – Bellarine v Melbourne University at State Sports Centre, Parkville 8:00pm
SUNDAY 6 APRIL 2025
YLW Bellarine v Hawthorn at Bellarine Sports Centre 11:00am
YLM Bellarine v Hawthorn at Bellarine Sports Centre 1:00pm
CW Bellarine v Hume City at Bellarine Sports Centre 3:00pm